The Might've Been
by Surarrin
Summary: A collection of pieces that I wrote but, for one reason or another, never published.
1. Sacchin: First Dance

**Just a collection of stories that i've written, but for reasons unknown (Read: Lost Interest) remained unposted. However, I intend to atleast try to update them, even if only a few thousand words. Anyway, Enjoy.**

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**Story: Sacchin  
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"It's been over an hour," Naruto mumbled under his breath as he tapped his finger against the table in front of him.

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura shouted from down the front of the classroom, before turning towards the person sitting next to her, "Can't you see Sasuke-kun is tired?" her voice changed instantly from the grating tone to a kind and worrisome murmur.

Beside her the black haired Sasuke said nothing. The Uchiha's gaze fixated on the black board at the front of the classroom.

Naruto's eyes flickered from the table in front of him towards the pink haired girl, they remained fixated on her for a moment before switching back to the desk in front of him.

"Oi, Haruno, there's a bug on your head."

The pink haired girl's head swivelled around to face Naruto. A crash followed soon afterwards along with a scream as Sakura jumped into action, swatting the top of her head.

Naruto couldn't help but grin at the utterly girlish reaction.

"Did I get it?!" she demanded to know, her voice shaking slightly. From worry or exertion he couldn't tell.

Naruto shrugged, his gaze still fixated on the table in front of him. "Sure, why not?" he replied half heartedly, once again tapping his finger against the table in front of him.

A few moments of silence passed, only broken by the occasional tap of Naruto's fingers against his desk. Once again Naruto's eyes looked up from his desk towards Sakura and Sasuke.

"Though, you squashed a bit of it into your hair, it's kinda disgusting to be honest."

A shudder rolled through Sakura.

She abruptly stood up and slid out into the isle between desks.

"I'll…be back in a second."

Naruto's lips quirked lightly.

"Are you sure that's a smart thing to do?" he asked as he dispassionately eyed the pink haired girl, "What if Jounin-san shows up while you're gone, it wouldn't be a very good first impression."

Sakura stiffened again, seemingly torn between cleaning her hair and waiting and being a patient student.

"You can go," Naruto stated with a pleasant smile, "I'll tell Jounin-san that you had something you needed to take care of, if you are late."

Sakura turned around to face Naruto, her face was full of disbelief.

Naruto's smile widened. "We're gonna be teammates after all, aren't we? Gotta start helping each other sooner or later."

Sakura smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, Naruto." She literally ran from the room.

A few seconds of silence passed.

Naruto's eyes flickered towards the only other occupant in the room. The smile that had been on his face moments prior faded into an amused smirk.

"How are you today, Sacchin?"

Down in the front row Sasuke stiffened, but made no move to answer.

"Oh," Naruto said, his smirk still present on his face, "Is something the matter Sacchin? You seem awfully silent today."

"Do not call me that."

Naurto's eyebrows raised in surprise, before they settled back down, and his smirk turned into an amused grin, "If you answer my question I'll think about it," Naruto offered.

No reply came from Sasuke.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak.

"I am fine."

It closed again, once again his eyebrows rose up in surprise.

"Well that's good to hear Sacchin." Naruto held no small amount of satisfaction as Sasuke stiffened once again.

"Idiot," Sasuke spat out, "If yo-"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto dismissed with a wave of his hand as he leaned backwards on his chair. "Don't worry Sacchin, I won't spill your little secret."

Silence returned to the classroom yet again, but soon enough Naruto found himself bored with it, and his eyes once again flickered towards the silent Uchiha.

"You know, I've never said it, but I admire you." Sasuke didn't reply. "I mean, you push yourself pretty hard, even though to succeed you'd really only need to put on a dress and spread your le-"

That got a reaction.

**"Excuse me?"** Sasuke stood up abruptly, knocking a chair over.

Naruto's smirk widened.

"You're a Kunoichi, all you need to do is spread your legs in the future and you'll get to Jounin in no time at all."

Sasuke looked ready to attack, if the glare Naruto was receiving was anything to go by.

"Oh," Naruto said, his voice laced with faux surprise, "Did I upset you?"

Naruto could hear Sasuke's knuckles pop as she clenched her fist.


	2. Sacchin: Second Dance

**Story: Sacchin**

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Naruto wasn't happy. Scratch that. He was down right pissed. He hadn't expected Kakashi to resort to such primitive traps. Though, it was a stroke of genius to include them. Or so Naruto told himself in order to save his ego. It hadn't taken him more then a second to get out of the ankle snare, but the fact he had been caught in the first place was aggravating him.

The bastard was on a whole different level. Naruto had no idea how he had been able to place the snare with such precision. A bell had been dropped, an obvious trap. But it was too good of an opportunity. He had used a kunai to knock the bell away from it's original position, far away, almost ten meters. But somehow the Jounin had predicted it. He had quickly reacted, but in that time a rush of wind underneath him told him that the bell had been snatched away, he had been forced to hold in a few choice swear words.

A piercing scream echoed through the training grounds, scaring the few birds that had remained in the canopy of the trees away. Naruto could have recognized the girl the voice belong to any day: It was Sakura. No doubt she had found a leech or some other such 'dangerous' insect on her clothing, and had passed out from shock.

There was no way he'd let the pink haired clutz have a bell. There was one with his name on it, and one with Sacchin's clan's name on it. A snort issued from Naruto's nose as he began to walk towards the source of the scream that continued to reverberate throughout the forests.

A pleasant smile came over Naruto's face. While Sakura didn't have a hope in hell of passing the test, she could still at least help him pass by…lending him her munitions. Hell, if he managed to get the bells he might even give her one, just to piss Sacchin off. He paused on that thought, before his smile dissolved into a frown. If he had to choose between them he'd rather have Sacchin on his team rather then the pink haired Haruno.

Naruto had taken to whistling as he walked towards the source of Sakura's scream, and hopefully her. The whistling had abruptly stopped as he passed through the edge of the forest and happened upon a clearing. In the middle Sakura's body was collapsed.

Naruto sighed.

"It was a bug after all."

He shook his head as he approached the downed kunoichi. "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, fainting from just a bug, that's ju-"

Naruto halted in his words and footsteps.

He stared.

"……"

"……Now what are you doing down there, Sacchin? I thought the trap I fell for was embarrassing but this.."

Naruto smiled as he stepped over Sakura's body. Sasuke's head was sticking out of the ground she refused to meet Naruto's eyes.

"So," Naruto began, glancing over at Sakura. "How did sh-"

"I don't know," Sasuke spat out angrily, her cheeks flushed. Whether in embarrassment or anger Naruto couldn't tell.

Naruto nodded acceptingly.

"Alright, just give me a second."

He reached behind him into his back pouch with a look of slight concentration on his face. After a few seconds it seems Sasuke couldn't take anymore.

"You're kunai are in your front pocket you idiot!"

"Kunai?" Naruto echoed confusedly, "I'm trying to find a marker I had this morning."

Sasuke began to struggle violently.

Naruto raised his hands in a mock surrender. "I was kidding, jeez, calm down."

"Now if you want me to help you out you just need to say please, Sacchin."

Naruto smiled kindly down at Sasuke, who still refused to meet his gaze.

"Get me out of here, now." Sasuke spat out.

"You forgot to say please." Naruto clicked his tongue at Sasuke, wagging his finger at the earthbound Uchiha at the same time.

Sasuke seemed to be struggling internally.

"We can just forget this ever happened if you want." Naruto offered with the same kind smile as he had previously.

"…..please." It sounded like it had cost Sasuke a few years off her life to utter the single word. She still refused to meet Naruto's eye.

Naruto's kind smile morphed into a superior grin.

"I'll have you out of there in no time at all." He brought his hands up into a seal that Sasuke couldn't recognize.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Instantly three puffs of smoke exploded around Sasuke revealing three replicas of Naruto.

The Uchiha snorted. "You do realize that Bunshins aren't corporeal don't you idiot?"

Once again Naruto waved his finger at Sasuke. "Sacchin, these aren't Bunshin, but _Kage_ Bunshin."

As Sasuke went to open his mouth a clone to the side withdrew a kunai and stabbed it into the ground next to the Uchiha's head, Sasuke however didn't flinch.

Naruto's eyebrows rose in surprise, before he shook his head. "Alright, gimme a few seconds."

It took more then a few seconds, Sasuke took to pointing out as the last of the dirt was broken away. During which one unfortunate clone accidentally groped the Raven haired girl. She endured it silently, but the moment her arm was free the clone poofed as Sasuke gripped it's shirt and repeatedly slammed it into the ground.

Naruto blinked.

"You're more developed then I thought," he admitted with a slight blush on his cheeks.

Sasuke stared at him confusedly.

Naruto brought his hands up to his chest and made an upwards groping action. "Your breasts." He quickly leaned backwards avoiding a vicious swipe from Sasuke's freed arm. After a few more seconds Sasuke was able to pull herself out of the hole she had been buried in.

"You're welcome Sach-"

Naruto's head snapped backwards painfully as Sasuke's fist collided with his cheek.

"That's for making me say please, you asshole." Sasuke spat out angrily as she shook her hand and massaged its knuckles.

Naruto turned back to face Sasuke and smiled as pleasantly as he could, before turning to the side and spitting out a glob of blood. He couldn't help but notice that Sasuke's face took on a pleased expression.

"As I was saying," Naruto paused and reached up to his mouth, poking one of his teeth lightly and grimacing, before looking back at Sasuke, "You're welcome Sacchin."

Sasuke glared hatefully at Naruto, but didn't say anything else.

"No doubt you've noticed that getting a bell is a bit harder then we first realized."

Naruto paused to let Sasuke speak, but found he didn't need to.

"How about we work together to get each other a bell?"

Sasuke scowled and looked away. "I don't need your help to get a bell, last time I touched one, next time I'll get it for sure."

Naruto shrugged.

"I touched a bell as well, but it'll still be either if we work together." Naruto conveniently forgot to mention the circumstances that dictated the touch.

Sasuke once again made eye contact with Naruto, this time however there was a peculiar gleam in her eye.

"Alright," she finally said after some consideration, "But don't get in my way."

"Whatever you say Sacchin."

"Don't call me that!"


	3. Sacchin: Third Dance

**Story: Sacchin**

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"This is bullshit! Are you sexist or something?!" Naruto shouted angrily as he tugged at the binds that strapped him to the second of three large wooden logs that were stuck in the ground. "Why am I the only one tied to the freaking logs?!" He ignored the sudden venomous look that Sasuke gifted him with mixed in with an undertone of nervousness. A stab of worry went through Naruto, and he wasn't all that sure it was from the look.

Across from Naruto Kakashi frowned, or at least, that's what it looked like, Naruto couldn't really tell that well due to the mask he wore. "Out of the three of you I felt you were the one who were the least deserving of passing ," he paused before adding on " and Sasuke isn't tied to the log either."

Sasuke seemed relieved, at least that was what Naruto assumed the stoic look that passed over the Uchiha's face meant.

"Oh give me a break," Naruto snapped before nodding his head towards Sakura, "The Pinky Wonder over there _fainted_ from seeing Sasuke being buried, how the hell am I more pathetic then that?!" the pink haired girl aforementioned blushed and glared at the ground, her fists clenched at her sides, she however, didn't rebuke Naruto's words.

"She fell for a Genjutsu, which was designed to incapacitate," Kakashi's lips quirked up behind his mask, "You on the other hand fell for an extremely obvious trap. I am disappointed that you tried to pick up the bell that was on the ground Naruto."

That drew Sasuke's attention. The Uchiha fixed Naruto with a cool look, one which Naruto refused to meet, and was able to by meeting Kakashi's gaze which was also directed at him.

"How was I supposed-No, how could you have known what angle I'd hit it with a kunai?! There's no way you could have predicted that!" He scowled deeply and turned his gaze from Kakashi to the forest to the side, and focused upon the memorial stone which was prominently displayed at the edge of the clearing.

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and turned away from Naruto, to the two other Genin, "It was still an embarrassing mistake to make. Though, I have to admit, Sakura, unlike those two, you won't be needing to go back to the Academy," Both Naruto and Sasuke tensed, looking at Kakashi in disbelief.

Sakura's head snapped up, hope and shock blatantly obvious in her eyes. "You mean…?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, his eyes half shut in a jovial way, "You should quit as a ninja!" Sakura's look of hope was demolished.

Despite himself Naruto tried to keep his look somber. Sasuke however didn't even try to hide her amusement- though there wasn't much to hide; a slight quirk of her lips.

"Oi, Jounin-san, isn't that a bit much?" Naruto asked, his face troubled.

Kakashi shook his head, looking down at the pink haired girl sitting on the ground in front of Naruto along side Sasuke. "As Sakura is she wouldn't stand a chance on a proper mission."

"Isn't that what your job is?" Naruto demanded to know, "To make sure she has the proper training?"

Kakashi leveled a calm look at Naruto. "I'm going to ignore that, because you, on some level grasped the meaning of this training exercise."

Naruto's brow furrowed in thought, "What do you mean? The only thing I did after…" he scowled, "Was tell Sasuke we should work together to get a bell."

"That's right, you asked Sasuke to work together to get a bell because you realized that the task itself would be too tough for you to complete by yourself" Kakashi ignored the indignant look on Naruto's face and the self satisfied one on Sasuke's. "Had you woken Sakura up and asked her to help as well I would have been willing to pass you all for that alone, but as you didn't, and left her unconscious while you tried to get a bell for yourselves."

"You mean that this was a teamwork exercise?" Sakura asked quietly, her gaze still cast down, refusing to look anywhere near Kakashi or her two team mates.

"Gimme a break," Naruto said in a troubled way, "There were two bells, and there were three of us, if this was about teamwork you should have-"

"The two bells were meant to divide us," Sasuke interrupted with a disgruntled look upon her face.

"That's right."

The grey haired Jounin looked down at Sakura and Sasuke and smiled, "You two can have some lunch, both of you followed my warning, unlike someone." he glanced up to Naruto, who was smirking- which died almost as soon as Kakashi had looked up. "I'm going to give you a second chance and once you've finished eating I'll give you three a second chance to get the bells."

Sasuke suddenly looked up at Kakashi, her eyes glinting with determination.

Sakura's head snapped around to face Kakashi, once again with hope in her eyes, battling with the tides of despair that Kakashi's words had instilled within her.

Naruto's eyes were a mix between hope, determination and hunger, his eyes were flickering between their Sensei and the bentos that rested at his feet.

"Oh," Kakashi said on an afterthought, "You both can eat, but if you give Naruto any- You'll fail instantly."

"Son of a-" Naruto snarled, before Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the three Genin by themselves.

Nothing happened for a few moments, before Sakura sat up on her knees and crawled towards the bentos, grabbing one, then hesitantly grabbing the other and bringing them back to where she was sitting- Next to Sasuke. The pair of Genin broke open the bento and in a surprisingly calm manner, began to pick apart the food inside and eat it.

Naruto glared enviously at the two for a few moments, before he leant his head backwards and rested it upon the log behind him. One of his many current regrets was that the ropes were tied in such a way that if he even tried to loosen them- or slide them down so he could sit on the ground, they'd cut into him. A sigh escaped him, "What a bastard," he mumbled under his breath as he tried to ignore the scent the food was giving off.

It wasn't _his_ fault that he had a fast metabolism.

Naruto opened his mouth to yawn and something entered his mouth, causing him to splutter violently and snap his eyes open, before spitting whatever it was out on the ground in front of him.

He stared down confusedly at a slightly slimy piece of meat on the ground in front of him. "What the…" he began to mumbled, before looking up to Sasuke and across to Sakura. Both of which were looking at him, Sakura confusedly, and Sasuke with an annoyed glare.

"Idiot, if you don't want to eat then fine." Sasuke snapped as she turned away in a huff.

Naruto blinked in a stupefied way, before he shook his head angrily, "I can't you ass, if I do we fail!"

Sasuke glanced back over her shoulders in an unconcerned way, "He isn't here right now and I can't sense his chakra anywhere."

Naruto's resolve was weakening, "But he might be around still."

Sasuke snorted and opened her mouth to retort.

"Sasuke-kun is right, if you don't have your strength then we can't get the bells from Kakashi-sensei."

To Naruto's surprise it was Sakura who spoke, interrupting Sasuke, who looked like she was conflicted between agreeing with Sakura and glaring at her. She was holding the bento up to Naruto with both her hands.

Naruto clenched his fist and grimaced, "I can't really…" he trailed off.

Sakura stared blankly at Naruto before scowling lightly. "Just this once," she her voice dangerously low, "and never again."

Naruto shrugged, "Whatev-"

He coughed as a pair of chopsticks forced some cabbage into his mouth. This time however, he managed not to cough it up. He glared down at Sakura, who was wearing a sickly innocent look upon her face.

"You're not fooling anyone," he grumbled under his breath, before opening his mouth again and letting the pink haired girl shove some more food into his mouth. A minute went by with the routine continuing, Sakura taking turns feeding herself, and then Naruto. Once Naruto noticed that the bento was half empty he shook his head at the pink haired girl.

"Thanks, but you should eat the rest by yourself, you didn't have breakfast." Naruto closed his eyes and leaned backwards again, sighing lightly.

She frowned before nodding and going back to where she had previously sat.

The clattering sound of polished wood dropping against metal caught Naruto's attention, prompting him to open his eyes again. Sasuke had stopped eating.

"I am full," the Uchiha declared before glancing up to Naruto, "If you're still hungry you can have the rest." The blonde haired Genin couldn't help but notice the almost invisible pink blush on Sasuke's cheeks.

Naruto began to nod for a second before he glanced to the inside of the bento and snorted. "Oi, it isn't even half eaten, I know you're a girly about eating but you should at least eat your fill."

Sasuke glared at him for a moment the blush on her cheeks darkening slightly, before calmly picking up the bento and standing up.

"Idiot," she said, "Unlike you I am able to fight without a full stomach." Her lips quirked up, "After all you _did_ fall for an amateur trap."

"It wasn't my fault," Naruto protested, glaring across at the raven haired Uchiha, "He tricked me, even you'd have fallen for it."

Sasuke's cool gaze met Naruto's causing the latter to glare.

"Open your mouth," Sasuke commanded as she held up part of the Bento contents in front of Naruto's face.

Grudgingly Naruto opened his mouth and leant his head forward.

Naruto went to take bite of the food, only for Sasuke to move the food out of reach, and put it in her mouth.

"Hey you ass!" Naruto growled at Sasuke's self satisfied smirk, "When I get out of here I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"For a second there I was worried you were gonna feed him, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto and Sakura froze up and they both turned their head to the source of the voice- Above Naruto. Kakashi was squatting on top of the post, looking down at Sasuke with an amused look upon his face. Naruto's anger at Sasuke dwindled slightly- Only slightly, while he may have had a reason for pulling it away at the last moment it still was a rotten thing to do.

"Well, you both seem full," Kakashi said with a smile as he looked over to Sakura. "And Naruto is energetic enough to be supporting his own weight, so we'll begin."

The ropes around Naruto fell away to the floor without a sound. Naruto blinked as he lifted his arms up and massaged them lightly, getting the blood circulation going again.

"Can I get a few seconds?"Naruto asked as he began to stretch his legs and arms out. "My muscles are kind of cramping."

"Of course not!" Kakashi exclaimed happily as he pressed the top of the alarm clock down. "This time you only have an hour to get the bells, so you'd better get started right awa-"

Kakashi jumped backwards just in time to avoid a handful of shuriken.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun I didn't sa-"

Once again he was forced to jump to the side as a wide array of shuriken flew towards him.

"Come on you two! Let's get wild!" Naruto shouted as he charged towards Kakashi, behind him Sasuke and Sakura hesitated for a moment, before they followed suit.

With a grinning Naruto charging towards him, Kakashi couldn't help but feel amused and disappointed at the frontal assault, that was, until he felt the chakra signatures of Sasuke and Sakura shift.

He grinned as well.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"


	4. Sacchin: Fourth Dance

**Story: Sacchin**

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"Oi, oi, Jounin-san," Naruto called out to Kakashi, "I think the drunk is getting a bit too tired to keep going." He jerked his head backwards, to where their mission objective had collapsed, empty bottle in hand in the middle of the dirty road, he was throwing up the contents of his stomach; Booze saturated meat, booze saturated vegetables and booze by itself with a hint of stomach acid.

At the front of the group Sakura made a face as she stared back at their client. Beside her Sasuke simply gave Tazuna, the drunk, a disgusted glare. Not that Naruto could blame the Uchiha; As far as first impressions had went, Tazuna had turned out to be the worse kind of drunk, the kind that you had to work for. The second impression hadn't been as good as the first.

After all, it wasn't every day that a normal escort mission, which at the best of times meant Bandits, and the worse a boring trip turned out to include other ninja hell bent on killing the mission objective.

The Demons Brothers had gotten within a hair's width of ending Tauzna's life, simply because Naruto couldn't stand being near the drunk long enough to save his life, and because Kakashi wanted to instill an impromptu lesson within the group.

Though, Naruto had to admit, saving Sasuke's ass from being nailed with the Gauntlets that the brothers wielded had been a perk. Even if he had received a berating from Kakashi over ditching the client to show up Sasuke- The venomous look he had received had made it worth even a dozen lectures.

And to Naruto's surprise- Sakura hadn't been totally worthless, nor had she been spineless. She was a surprisingly willing meatshield. He had complimented her on it afterwards, but had received a glare in return something which confused Naruto to no end.

Kakashi glanced up from his little orange book and turned around and eyed the hurling drunk blankly before glancing back down to his book, and then snapping it closed. A sigh escaped the Jounin. "Alright, we'll setup camp for the night."

Sakura let out a whoop of joy. She blushed afterwards at the peculiar glance Naruto sent her way. It didn't take long for her to glare at him indignantly and turn away in a huff.

Kakashi glanced around for a moment at the surrounding forestry. "Let's find a clearing to setup camp." He held up his hand to Naruto as he opened his mouth to speak "Preferably something not off the side of the road," he added on in an after thought, causing Naruto to scowl.

It took them the better part of an hour to find a clearing suitable in Kakashi's eyes. Suitable meaning it was far enough from the road that you couldn't even catch a glimpse of it through the thick blanket of trees and bushes.

Blanket, the word made Naruto wistful. Unfortunately for them none of them had a blanket, nor did they have a tent. The evening setup for each of them was a sleeping bag each along; The evening wasn't going to be pleasant. Luckily however, there was an added bonus for being surrounded by forestland.

"Naruto, I want you to collect fire wood."

Kakashi's had spoken as soon as Naruto had unstrapped his backpack and moved to sit down. For a moment Naruto debated complaining, but decided not to on an after thought.

"Sasuke, I want you to go as well to help carry it back," Sasuke nodded without so much as a hesitation. "Oh," Kakashi said after a few moments, "Can you both fill up the spare containers with water as well?"

"Why do we need more water for?" Naruto asked blankly, "We're heading to a place which is literally surrounded by water, aren't we?" he glanced to Tazuna for confirmation, only to find the grey haired old man sitting down on the ground, cradling his head in his hands.

"Consider it training," Kakashi smiled, "In most missions you don't have ready access to water," Kakashi explained as he himself dropped his pack on the ground.

Naruto snorted, "And where are we supposed to get the water from? I doubt there is a pond clo…" he trailed off as Kakashi held up a map for Naruto. "..se by. Whatever."

"Come on Sasuke," Naruto grumbled under his breath as he began to trudge out of the clearing.

Sasuke stared after Naruto for a few moments before she bent down and grabbed four containers by the rope attached to them- Lace in Sakura's case. A smirk overcame the female Uchiha's face for a moment before she gripped one of the containers- Naruto's in specific.

"What the hell was that for?!"

Naruto's voice rang out through the forest.

"So, Sacchin," Naruto began to say after a few minutes of walking in silence. "Do you think Kakashi has figured out you don't have a dick yet?"

Sasuke halted in her steps almost instantly. Naruto on the other hand continued to walk for a few more steps, before turning back with a confused expression upon his face. "Why'd you stop walkin' Sacchin?" He smiled pleasantly as Sasuke glared at him. The glare eventually faded away into an irritated look.

"It is likely that the Hokage has informed him," Sasuke's voice was curt.

"No demand that I stop calling you Sacchin?" Naruto asked, sounding impressed, "Yo-"

"Make no mistake," Sasuke said coldly, glaring once again at Naruto. "I've realized the only way you learn is through the use of brute force. We are on a mission so I am forced to tolerate you with a measure of restraint."

"I'm getting sick of people talking over me today," Naruto grumbled under his breath. "Brute force, huh? That'll be some fun, gonna try and make me eat my words, huh?" he grinned in a mocking way.

Sasuke began to walk forward again in slow calm steps, "The Uchiha are above such petty quarrels." She stopped as she passed by Naruto. "Once this mission is ove-"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto shook his head lightly, "You'll defend your honor by defeating me in an epic fight and force me to call you Sasuke-sama." He snorted, "Like that's going to happen."

"Sasuke-sama," Sasuke repeated, rolling it off her tongue, "Yes, that sounds appropriate," she paused and glanced down her nose at Naruto, "However, you're mistaken, or deluded," her lips quirked upwards in a condescending smirk. "I do not perceive a humiliating defeat on your part to be epic… pathetic would fit it so much more."

Naruto bristled.

"Bitch."

"Idiot."

Once again they fell into silence as they walked towards the closest source of water, which happened to be a small stream a mile south east of where they had setup camp.

"Give me the container I threw at you before, I'll go fill them up while you collect fire wood."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke in surprise. "Why Sacchin?" he never the less held out the bottle.

"It's more efficient." She stated as if it were obvious, snatching the bottle out of Naruto's hands.

Naruto's eyebrows rose.

"Don't you mean that you don't want to get your pretty hands ruined by picking up wood?"

"….I meant what I said, idiot."

Naruto smiled and waved his hand at Sasuke dismissingly, "Sure, sure," he said mockingly, before grinning. "How much wood do you think Jounin-san wants?"

Sasuke frowned for a moment before shrugging her shoulders lightly, "Enough to last the entire night."

"Heh, heh," Naruto guaffed, "This'll be a cinch then." He brought his hands up together into a seal, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

A series of smoke bursts filled the clearing, revealing a dozen Naruto's all scrambling to search for dry wood.

"Easy as cake!" Naruto exclaimed before he dusted his hands together and locked them together behind his head, grinning.

Sasuke stared blankly at him for a moment with a light frown upon her lips. "Ninjutsu is not meant to be used for trivial matters."

"…do you want to search for the wood and carry it all the way back?" Naruto asked flatly, "Cause if you do I'll just dispel th-"

"On the other hand…" Sasuke cut Naruto off smoothly, "It is good to practice even when on missions."

"Don't interrupt me!" Naruto shouted angrily with a frustrated look on his face. "I'm sick of people doing that!"

"Perhaps if you used your mouth to say something important people would listen to you," Sasuke offered, her face schooled into a calm and collected look.

"Just shut up." Naruto growled.

Sasuke's nonchalant expression broke; one of her eyebrows rose up slightly. "Aren't you the one who is usually wants me to speak?"

Naruto let out a incoherent scream and stomped off.


	5. Sacchin: Fifth Dance

**Story: Sacchin**

* * *

"This is boring," Naruto stated with a scowl on his face, "Why can't more ninja attack?"

At the rear of the group Tazuna's face went ashen, "Hey, hey, that isn't a good thing to wish for midget!"

"Shut up!" Naruto turned around and glared at the Bridge builder, "You lied to us before about ninja being after you, you shouldn't talk!"

Tazuna and Naruto began to glare at each other, the others in the group had continued to walk on, expecting the two to quickly follow suit. Half a minute later the blonde Genin and grey haired cCient had still remained still glaring at each other.

"Naruto," Kakashi sighed as he walked up to Naruto and clasped him on the shoulder, "You aren't supposed to intimidate the client."

"This runt intimidate me?" Tazuna snorted, "I've been more intimidated by a fish."

The old bridge builder walked past Naruto, neither he nor the young ninja made eye contact. Unfortunately for Tazuna, Naruto was by no means a mature person.

"WATCH OUT IT'S A NINJA!" Naruto brushed off Kakashi's hand and shouted, pointing to the side of the road where a line of tree's were obscured by a row of bushes.

The reaction was instant; Tazuna dived to the ground with his hands over his head.

Naruto burst out laughing.

"You brat!" Tazuna shouted as he scrambled to his feet and turned around to face Naruto, his face was flushed red in anger.

Naruto continued to laugh as he stepped past the older man and slapped him on the shoulder, "Jeez old man, lighten up! It's a piece of cake." He glanced back towards Kakashi, "Speaking of cake…"

"No Naruto, we aren't going to stop for cake," Naruto went to open his mouth again, but was interrupted by Kakashi, "And there aren't any shops or people living in the direction we're going. That's why we're going this way."

Naruto's smile deflated, "Well then next time I'll bright my own cake," he stated miserably, behind him Tazuna had continued to keep the same angered look on his face. One, which to a significantly lesser extent was mirrored on Sakura's face. He glanced down to her hands, and blinked. She had a Kunai in her hands, clutched tightly as if it was a lifeline.

"Naruto-" she began to say angrily, only to stop as Naruto held up a finger and pressed it to her lips.

"Hold that thought," he said calmly as he reached down and plucked the kunai from her hands and replaced it in her weapons pouch. "Alright, continue."

She stared at him blankly, her eyes clearly showing her confusion, but she quickly regained her bearing, "You can't just shout thing's like that!"

"Why not?" he reached up and scratched his nose lightly, "It's all good fun."

"Idiot," Sauske made her presence known in the conversation from the front of the group, "If you say things so lightly people won't take you seriously when you do mean it." Her cool gaze, as usual felt condescending.

Naruto glared at Sasuke and opened his mouth to retort, only for it to fail on his lips as she raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"Whatever," he huffed out and stomped past his two teammates.

Sakura stared at Sasuke with a light blush on her cheeks, before she shook her head and turned towards Naruto, "H-hey Naruto I hadn't finished yelling at you!"

"You never started," Naruto called out without looking back.

Sakura glared after Naruto indignantly, only for the look to fade as she switched her gaze to Sasuke, who was still standing still, looking at Naruto's back as she had been moments before.

"Get down!" Kakashi shouted without warning, grabbing Tazuna by the shoulder and forcefully pulling him down to the ground. Sasuke followed suit, in a slightly different fashion. She shoved Sakura hard, pushing her out of the way, before crouching down herself.

"Why wou-" Naruto began to ask, only for a gigantic spinning grey blur to burst forth from the top of the tree line behind Kakashi.

Naruto's eyes widened as it passed over Kakashi's head, barely skimming the tips of his hair. His body was frozen stiff as he watched the massive projectile spin closer and closer as if in slow motion, until it was less than a scant meter away.

"Naruto!"

That snapped him out of his daze; In the span of less then a second, Naruto leaned backwards and turned his head to the side. Naruto's right hand moved by itself, he watched in horror as his fist clenched and struck upwards. Instead of feeling his hand get torn off, as he had expected, Naruto felt the cold touch of iron on his knuckles for a single moment, and then he pushed, and felt the iron slip away from his hand. The cold sting of metal brushed over his cheek for a second, and then vanished as he fell backwards.

Naruto fell backwards unceremoniously landing on the ground with a painful thud. A second, much louder thud, that seemed to cause the ground to shudder sounded a second later. Naruto rolled over and got to his feet, searching for where the projectile had gone. His eyes fell on a tree at the edge of the path. There was a gigantic zabatou imbedded in it at an odd angle. For a few moments Naruto stared at it blankly until understanding crept through his mind.

"That…" Naruto began to say softly, "Is a big sword." His eyes trailed over the length of the gigantic sword. Naruto tensed as a pair of feet touched upon the sword's handle, seemingly appearing from thin air.

Naruto stared blankly at the figure standing a top the makeshift platform.

It was a man- that much was obvious from their lack of shirt- and coincidentally lack of breasts. Thankfully the man had pants on as baggy as they were. The man's arms were covered with warmers, not unlike those that Sasuke had taken to wearing, except his were covered in a camouflage print. The man's lower face was covered in bandages, reminiscent of Kakashi's face mask. He had a forehead protector as well- it was resting on the side of his head, due to the angle the man was standing at it wasn't hard to see the symbol etched on it: It was that of Hidden Mist.

Naruto slowly reached up to where the sword had graved his cheek, only to wince and hiss. It seemed the sword had taken off a layer of skin. He glanced down at his finger tips, and was not surprised to see the tips stained red. A scowl momentarily overcame his lips before the sound of footsteps met his ears, and Kakashi walked past him and stopped.

Naruto found himself paying less and less attention as Kakashi and the peculiar ninja began to speak. He absently noted that the nin lacked eyebrows. Naruto blinked."Oi, oi, you're from Mist right?" Both Kakashi and the ninja fell silent at the interruption, Naruto took it as a sign to continue; "How'd you burn your eyebrows off?"

"Naruto," Kakashi warned, "This isn't the time for your games." He chided lightly as his hand slowly raised upwards and clutched the slanted forehead protector that covered his left eye.

The foreign ninja gave a light chuckle as his eyes fell on Naruto, "You've got guts kid."

Naruto grinned.

"And you're about to lose them!" With that the ninja crouched down and slammed his foot against the trunk of the tree. He disappeared into the forest along with his sword.

Naruto blanched. He quickly scrambled to get into stance and prepare himself, only to pause as Kakashi waved him down. "I'll take care of him, you three protect Tazuna."

"There he is," Sasuke said quietly.

Naruto looked back to Sasuke before following her gaze towards a large lake at the end of the path. He tensed once again as his eyes fell on Zabuza. Surprisingly it didn't even phase him that the Mist nin was standing on top of the surface of the water. It did however phase him that the man was beginning to gather chakra, and then he disappeared.

The world began to fade into obscurity as mist rose up from the ground. If only that had it Naruto would have been fine, but along with the mist came a sudden oppressive atmosphere that Naruto couldn't shake. It felt like his life was slipping through his fingers. He gritted his teeth together and clenched his fists. The slightest movements strained his will to the brink, but he managed to turn his head around and face Sasuke and Sakura.

Neither of them were doing any better then himself. Both of the girls were clutching a weapon, tight enough that he had no doubt if their grip was a little lower they would have lost a finger. He tried to smile at his two teammates, but all he managed was a strained toothy grin. "You both look like you're about to have a stroke," he managed to say through gritted teeth.

"N-naruto."

To his surprise Sakura was the first to reply. She was still trembling, but her grip on her kunai had loosened somewhat.

Naruto's eyes flickered over to Sasuke, who's gaze was unfocused. Unlike Sakura she wasn't trembling, but her grip on her kunai was as tight.

"Sasuke-chan," Naruto called out mockingly to the Uchiha scion, drawing a look of surprise and a following look of contempt from the black haired girl-in-disguise, "Snap out of it, even Sakura has managed to get a hold of herself," he paused and his grin slowly folded into a tense smile, "Or are you weaker than a girl?"

"Y-you went to far Naruto," Sakura managed to whisper before another tremble went through her body.

"Idiot," Naruto wasn't too surprised to hear Sasuke's low voice, he was however surprised to hear how light it was, almost _feminine_, "Don't compare me to such a person." Sakura hadn't noticed the change in Sasuke's voice and seemed to have trouble agreeing with her crush for a moment, before nodding with a hurt expression.

"Play nice you three," Kakashi's voice hit them along with a sudden relief. The oppressive atmosphere vanished in a flash. The three Genin looked to Kakashi and were mildly surprised to find the Jounin molding chakra and visibly radiating it. "Just protect Tazuna and I'll take care of this guy."

And then it began.

Five minutes later it ended with Kakashi trapped inside a globe of water with Zabuza standing beside him keeping the watery prison active.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stared at Kakashi, shock writtenall over their faces. Slowly the shock gave way to irritation on Naruto's face, which slowly gave way to anger. Sasuke on the other hand had remained at shock. Sakura however had gone through to fear as soon as the ramifications of Kakashi's predicament dawned on her.

"Just protect Tazuna," Naruto mimicked in a high toned voice, "I'll take care of this guy." he scowled and pointed to Kakashi angrily, "You said you'd take care of it but you got captured!"

Kakashi shrugged pointlessly inside the bubble, "You three run away, as long as he's keeping the jutsu active he can't move from here." He paused and glanced to the shoreline where a Mizu Bunshin had begun to form, "Mizu Bunshin's don't have a high range, you guy's might be able to ou-"

"Shut up Jounin-san!" Naruto shouted angrily. "I asked for this mission and told Jiji-chan that I could do it." He clenched his fist and glared at Zabuza angrily, "You..you ruined my first C ranked mission, I won't forgive you!"

"Sasuke, Sakura, come on!" Naruto snarled, breaking the Uchiha out of her daze, "Let's kick this guy's ass."

"I'll protect Tazuna-san." Naruto snapped his head around to Sakura and glared.

"This isn't the time for you to be prissy about fighting Sakura!"

Sakura glared at Naruto and tightened her grip on her Kunai again before she lowered her gaze to the ground, "If Tazuna dies, we fail the mission, so I'll protect him with my life.."

"Fine," Naruto growled out as he turned back to Zabuza and Kakashi, "Sasuke unless you're gonna pussy out, come on!"


	6. Sacchin: Sixth Dance

**Story: Sacchin**

* * *

The world through Naruto's eyes was a gigantic black blur. Not only that but it was undeniably wet.

A groan escaped Naruto's lips as he reached up to his head. His hand fell upon something pleasantly moist, prompting him to open his eyes, or at least try. His eyelids were abnormally heavy. He felt tired, tired enough that he had given up attempting to open his eyes before he had even tried. He lowered his hand to his side and sighed. The last thing he remembered was charging at that guy- Zabuza, along with Sasuke. Everything else was just one big blur ending in unconsciousness.

"Naruto?" a voice whispered to him, "Are you awake?"

It was Sakura, Naruto realized. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but the same heavy feeling was present. He settled for raising his hand up and giving a short directionless wave.

"You're ok." She sounded relieved.

Naruto moved to prop himself up on his elbows, but immediately encountered resistance in the form of two hands pressing down against his chest, keeping him in one place.

"Don't move, you aren't healed yet," she whispered, "Your head should still be numb, so don't try and force yourself or Kakashi-sensei said you'll be sick." Her hands dropped away from Naruto's body as he ceased attempting to sit up.

Naruto allowed himself to drop back down onto his back and scowled, before a flicker of a memory inspired him. He lifted his hands up and frowned. He hadn't gotten good marks at all when they had taken a hand sign exam. In fact he had probably gotten the worse score in the class.

'What happened?' he attempted to say through his hands.

Sakura was silent for a few moments, in which Naruto wondered if he actually had absorbed any of the lessons at all. "When you and Sasuke-kun managed to free Kakashi-sensei, Zabuza attacked Sasuke with his sword before Kakashi-sensei could recover." She fell silent, and Naruto could feel her squirm uncomfortably, "You jumped in front of Sasuke-kun and…" she trailed off.

Naruto didn't think she needed to say much more, but apparently she did.

"Sasuke-kun and I tried our best to stop the bleeding and heal the wound, but," she seemed to be filled with anguish- at what Naruto had no idea, "We couldn't do anything except stop the bleeding, and since you were unconscious…" she shook herself out of her stupor, "Kakashi-sensei was amazing, after you both saved him he managed to dominate Zabuza.. and then, when he was about to kill him… a Hunter-nin interrupted and killed Zabuza and took the body."

'Can take cloth off. Want to see.' He attempted to say, pausing midway through.

Once again Sakura fell silent for a few seconds. "Pervert!" she whispered, "I'd hit you and yell at you, but you're still hurt and Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei are still asleep." Naruto resisted the urge to palm his face at his slipup between cloth and clothes and exasperatedly pointed to the cloth covering his face

"Oh…" she mumbled sounding flustered. "No, you can't take it off yet, the bleeding stopped but when Kakashi-sensei was awake he said that if it doesn't heal right it could cause you problems in the future."

Naruto gave what amounted to a snort and reached up to his face again to pull the damp cloth off his face.

Sakura slapped his hand down. "Don't." He reached again, only for her to once again slap his hand down.

Naruto used the only hand sign that was universally recognized outside of Kumo, before he reached up to remove the cloth yet again. "Naruto," Sakura hissed out, this time however she grasped his wrist and pinned the arm down to the ground. The pink haired girl had a surprising amount of leverage; he could barely manage to lift his arm off the ground. He grudgingly put it down to whatever drug they had administered. A second later he found his other arm pinned down.

Had it been another time, another place and another girl, Naruto would have been delighted to make fun of the situation. Unfortunately, he wasn't able too outside of his mind.

"Stop trying to take it off and just wait," she demanded trying to keep her voice as low as possible, "Just go back to sleep and in the morning I'll take it off I promise."

Naruto stopped struggling, before tugging at his hands lightly. Sakura got the message and let go, 'Time,' Naruto said through his hands.

"It's half an hour to midnight."

Naruto digested the time quickly and gave a half hearted thumbs up. His arms fell back down to his side and he let out long suffering breath. Silent came quickly, the only discernable sounds being that of someone else breathing. Minutes ticked by in silence. Naruto found himself submerged in his thoughts, trying to remember anything about what had happened. For all his attempts his memory was still fuzzy.

"You were right Naruto…" Sakura's voice met his ears in the silence, it was so faint he was almost certain he had imagined it, "I was afraid… that's why I stayed with Tazuna-san, so that I didn't have to fight that man… but I won't let my teammates get hurt anymore while I sit back and watch… it hurts too much."

Naruto remained silent, not that he had any choice. It felt awkward to hear such a confession, especially since he doubted that he was meant to hear it.

"When you jumped in front of Sasuke… I thought that you were trying to get in the way and I wanted to yell at you..when you fell I didn't understand at first but when I saw the red…" she fell silent again. "I've never seen Sasuke-kun look so confused…"

Naruto tried to ignore Sakura but it was near impossible in the dead silence of the room.

"Can I take it off now?" Naruto demanded to know the moment he heard the door open to the room he was staying in. For the past few days he had been cooped up in a room with absolutely nothing to do. He wasn't exaggerating either; His days were spent sitting or laying down, and occasionally someone visited him.

Kakashi had already recovered from his so called injuries and had taken Sakura and Sasuke off to train because Zabuza wasn't as dead as they had originally hoped. It annoyed him to no end that they were allowed free reign while he was stuck in a room with a wrapping around his face, he hadn't been 'allowed' to take it off, and every time he had tried someone had interrupted. It pissed him off to no end.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but you aren't supposed to until Kakashi-san says so."

Naruto's temper was cowed immediately. "A-ah, Tsunami-san sorry, I thought you were one of my teammates." He smiled half heartedly.

"It's alright," he could hear a matching smile in her voice, "They're out in the forests again, and father is at the bridge and Inari.. Inari has run off some where to be alone." Naruto felt the floor boards' creek as Tsunami stepped closer.

"I've brought you some lunch," Naruto held his hands out in front of him, ready to accept it, only to have them gently pushed back against his body, "You're in no condition to feed yourself, Naruto-kun, so let me help you."

Naruto was suddenly glad that the bandages covered almost his entire face. "I can feed myself." he said stubbornly as he held out his hands again, only to hear the woman laugh lightly.

"Please allow me to do this as a thank you for protecting my father and an apology for having such a thing happen to you because of it."

"I'm just doing my job," Naruto mumbled uncomfortably, turning away from where he assumed Tsunami to be.

"Father already told me that you aren't obliged to protect him anymore, that you didn't have to protect him from the ninja who attacked you." Tsunami said kindly.

"It was the right thing to do," Naruto shifted on his futon uncomfortably. "Anyone would have done it."

"Not anyone would have stayed and done all this, that's why I want to repay you in this way, because it's the only thing I can do." she stopped talking, and Naruto felt a hand clasp his shoulder softly, "Please let me help, it would make me feel much better."

"I'm a sucker for helping people," Naruto mumbled under his breath before giving a short nod and turning back to Tsunami. Pointedly ignoring the laugh she gave at his statement.

"Open your mouth."

"What did y-" Naruto began to ask, only to be interrupted as a pair of chopsticks shoved something into his mouth, causing him to cough lightly before he began to chew it. "That was nice," he said sounding surprised, "What was it?"

"Just some fish," Tsunami answered, "Open again."

For the next few minutes the routine continued, stopping occasionally when Naruto asked what something was, or for a drink. To his surprise, Tsunami was surprisingly patient, except when he said he didn't like something, which earned him another piece of it. He quickly learned to keep silent if something wasn't to his liking.

"Did you enjoy it?" Tsunami asked after a few moments.

"It was delicious," Naruto answered truthfully with a smile on his lips.

"I'm glad, do you want to take off the bandages now?"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically instantly reaching up to his head, before his hand made it however he stopped. "Wait.. what do you mean? You said that…" he trailed off before lifting his hand up and pointing accusingly, "You tricked me!"

A soft hand gripped his and gently shifted it to the right, Naruto twitched lightly; she had corrected his aim. "Would you have let me feed you if you didn't have the bandages on?"

"Of course not," Naruto retorted instantly, folding his arms across his chest.

Tsunami laughed again softly, "That's why I tricked you, because it's the only thing I can do to make up for your wounds." She trailed off into silence.

"You didn't have to…" Naruto mumbled under his breath, before adding on "But it was nice."

"Shall we take the bandages off? Kakashi-san said that it should be safe enough to take it off, just for a little while before he left with Sasuke-san and Sakura-san."

"A little while?" Naruto echoed irritably, "I've had it on for long enough!"

"We'll see how bad it is and when Kakashi-san comes back he can decide, alright?"

Naruto nodded stiffly before reaching up and searching for the end of the bandages. Once again Tsunami's hands clasped on his and lowered them down to his lap. "I'll do it."

"But-"

"No buts," she chided him lightly.

Naruto felt mildly annoyed, but didn't push it. As Tazuna's daughter's hands went their way around Naruto's head he couldn't help but relax. Having someone else's hands touch his head without trying to break his nose was a nice experience. After a small time the majority of the bandages were peeled off, leaving only the blood stained under layer.

"I'm not so sure… I should continue." Tsunami stopped. "The rest… I don't want make it worse by-"

Naruto ignored her and gripped the bandages from the top and jerked them off in a single pull, tearing the majority off them. He was too fast for Tsunami who noticed a moment too late. Naruto opened his eyes and winced, shutting them closed tight and bringing a hand up to his face.

"Owww."

"Are you okay?!" Naruto's eyes snapped open once again.

"Yeah.." Naruto murmured, dropping his hand from his eyes. "Yeah, the light was just a bit bright." Naruto smiled and looked up to Tsunami.

Naruto blinked as he stared up into the woman's face, surprise was written on his face; He hadn't expected Tazuna's daughter to be so… pleasant on the eyes where Tazuna made him wince. Tsunami's face was overcome with concern.

"Are you alright?" her brown hued eyes flecked with worry.

Naruto nodded silently, his eyes locked on the older woman's face. "I'm fine." he trailed off, finally looking away from Tsunami's face and shaking his head. "Don't worry." He smiled up at Tsunami, "Do you have a mirror or something?"

Tsunami smiled and nodded, before she stood up from her kneeling spot on the ground and walked out of the room.

Naruto took the time to look around the room. It was Spartan; Four futons lined the floor, he recognized Kakashi's, Sasuke's and Sakura's packs at the end of each of them, along with his own at the base of his. Naruto reached up to his face, before stopping and dropping his hand.

"Here you go."

Tsunami walked back into the room with hand sized mirror in her hands. She offered it to Naruto, who took it with a silent thank you. Naruto turned the mirror over and peered into it. At first he stared blankly into the mirror, waiting for a reaction to come. But after a while he realized that one wasn't coming. A gigantic angry red scar ran from just above his right eye diagonally down across the top of his nose, under his left eye and ended a just above his mouth line.

Naruto reached up and tenderly touched the scar, before frowning; He had never had a scar like this before.

"Ninja are really amazing."

Naruto looked up to Tsunami, he was mildly surprised to see that she had not moved from where she had given him the mirror. He didn't have anything to say to her statement, nothing he felt comfortable saying anyway.

"From the amount of blood on the bandages when you arrived.. I thought it would be a lot worse… but it's almost completely healed," Tsunami murmured quietly looking as if she wanted to touch the scar.

"I'm a quick healer, I guess." Naruto murmured under his breath before giving a light sigh and handing the mirror back to the black haired woman. "Thank you for lending it to me."

Tsunami smiled and accepted the mirror back. "No one will be back for a few hours, so please rest in here unt-"

"No way!" Naruto almost shouted, quickly standing up. "I've been sitting around here doing nothing for ages! "

Tsunami smiled unsurely, "There isn't much to do here I'm afraid." Her smile changed into a light frown, "And you're still injured, it would be best if you-"

Naruto shook his head violently, "I'm fine, just gimme something to do."

Tsunami laughed and her frown once again turned into a smile, "I'm sure we can find something for you to do then."

Naruto mimicked the smile, on the inside however, he was cheering.


	7. Sacchin: Seventh Dance

**Story: Sacchin**

* * *

"Just apply chakra and run?" Naruto echoed blankly as he stared across at Kakashi.

Unsurprisingly, the moment Naruto had been deemed fit he had been taken to where the three other Kohona nin had been training. It wasn't too far away from Tazuna's house -- not too close, but not too far was the only way Naruto could describe it.

"Exactly," Kakashi agreed without pause, "Just apply and run." He pointed to one of the various mammoth trees' that littered the forest. "Up that."  
"Right," Kakashi pointed to one of the many large tree's surrounding the clearing, "Just apply and run up that."

"And what the hell does that accomplish?" Naruto asked flatly, folding his arms across his chest and staring at the older man.

"Sasuke," Kakashi prompted.

Sasuke snorted and ran towards the closest tree. Naruto half expected her to run head first into it. As she reached the tree, the second most likely thing happened; she began running up it. Naruto watched in mild fascination as she scaled the tree a little less than three fourths of the way up the trunk, before kicking off and making her way back down, using the other trees as vertical stepping stones.

"So it'll let me run up trees; how is that training exactly?" Naruto remained skeptical. "I mean, I can see how it _could_ be useful, but it doesn't really help with anything else, does it?" He glanced slyly towards Kakashi, "How about you teach me some jutsu instead?"

"It helps with chakra control," Sakura finally spoke for the first time since they had left Tazuna's house. Naruto was half surprised; he had almost forgotten she was there. "And if you train really hard it increases your chakra capacity." Noticing Naruto's disregard she added on, "Which mean's you can use more jutsu."

"Oh," Naruto said blankly, before he shook his head and nodded, "Alright, I'll have this down in no time at all!"

"Sasuke, Sakura, I need one of you to volunteer to watch the bridge," Kakashi explained calmly, slipping his book into a pouch on his hip. "I haven't made a complete recovery yet, so someone has to take care of that."

"I'll do it," Sakura offered immediately, before turning to Sasuke and smiling slightly, "You wanted to train, didn't you Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke gave a noncommittal reply, but otherwise gave no sign of agreement. Naruto frowned lightly; Sasuke hadn't spoken to him since he had woken up. If it wasn't for the fact that she hadn't walked into him in the halls of Tazuna's house, Naruto could have sworn he was invisible to the Kunoichi. Even now she was purposely looking away from him.

Naruto watched silently as Kakashi and Sakura walked away at a leisurely pace. Before they were even out of sight Naruto caught Sasuke beginning to practice out of the corner of his eye. He gritted his teeth together and turned to face Sasuke with a rant poised to be released from his tongue, only to find the Uchiha already half way up the nearest tree.

"Sacchin get down here!" Naruto shouted as loudly as he could; he could hear his voice echo around him, but Sasuke seemed to be unable to hear it, or rather, she probably was ignoring it.

"Fine." Naruto brought his hands together and focused his chakra on the soles of his feet. "If that's how you wanna play fine, I'll catch up to you and then force you to listen!" he mumbled under his breath before taking a moment to calm himself.

And then he ran. The moment his foot touched the park he began to smile; It was easy enough, he could feel the bark under his feet sticking to the soles of his feet. His smile widened into a grin and he applied more chakra to the soles of his feet. A dull cracking sound was heard underfoot; Naruto's eyes widened as the bark he stood on cracked, and his grip on the tree vanished.

The shock passed soon enough, and Naruto quickly maneuvered to land on his feet. His grin had quickly fallen into a scowl as he looked up the tree. The place where the bark had shattered was not even seven meters up. Naruto glanced to the Tree Sasuke had chosen; She was too far enough up the tree that he couldn't really make out any details of her.

Naruto gritted his teeth together and glared at the tree in front of him, before he slammed his hands together again into a common handseal and began to focus again, before making a dash towards the tree once again, chakra blazing on the soles of his feet.

High up in the canopy of the forest, Sasuke sat watching Naruto quietly. She had long since drained her chakra reserves from running up and down the top of the tree's trunks. She could have easily descended with her remaining chakra, but that would require purposely evading Naruto. It had been well over five hours since Kakashi and Sakura had left. Three of those hours had been spent running up and down the top of the trunks without pause.

Two hours prior she had decided to stop before she fainted from exhaustion. Since then she had been sitting still watching Naruto, watching him ever slowly make his way up the tree. He had eventually figured the trick out to tree climbing, but even though he understood the principle behind it, he was still running through chakra like a gushing tap.

Sasuke was grudgingly impressed by the blonde haired boy's determination. She had long since accepted that if she had been in his place that she would have fallen down long short of her own three hours. Probably within an hour, considering the amount of chakra he was leaking. The most peculiar thing was that he was getting close. He had long since gotten in range for yelling, but he had kept silent.

The closer Naruto managed to get, the better Sasuke could see him. He looked like he was in a bad state. His clothed were soaked through and through with sweat. The Uchiha briefly wondered if Naruto would hit her once he got close enough. Even though she had been watching him, she hadn't looked him in the face.

"I know it's childish," Sasuke stated calmly under her breath as she turned her gaze away from the orange clad ninja. But even though it was, she couldn't manage to acknowledge the fact that she had been saved by the blonde idiot. The so called scar was a glaring omission to her weakness. Sasuke clenched her fist and gritted her teeth.

A loud crack caused Sasuke to snap her head back around to Naruto. Her eyes widened as they made contact with Naruto. He was no longer anchored to the tree, from the look on his face and the fact he was in a free fall she could only assume he wasn't conscious.

"You idiot!"

Even before her words left her mouth Sasuke was already running down the tree trunk. '_It isn't enough_' Sasuke realized blankly. Naruto was falling too quickly, and even with the addition of chakra she would cut it close. She gritted her teeth together and dived forwards, using the chakra adhered to the soles of her feet to give her a boost. She ignored the painful sensation of the wind biting into her face and stretched her arms out towards Naruto.

The moment he was in reach she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her, before she gripped him by the by his damp shirt. "Wake up!" she shouted in his face, before rearing her fist back and slamming it into his face, purposely ignoring the red scar that divined his face nearly in two. She didn't know whether she was feeling relief or anger as Naruto's eyes snapped open.

"Wha- what's goi-" he began to say, his voice mildly slurred.

"Shut up and land," Sasuke snarled, before gripping him by the shoulders and slamming her foot into his stomach sending them both off in different directions.

Sasuke herself had positioned herself so when she had kicked off she'd end going towards the trunk of the tree that Naruto had been running up. Naruto had also been sent on a collision course with a tree, and managed to snap out of his confusion just in time to save himself from a continued plunge to the forest floor by grabbing a kunai out of his weapons pouch and stabbing it into the meat of the tree.

Naruto held onto the kunai tightly until his head stopped spinning. After a few moments he pressed his feet to the trunk of the tree and focused on applying chakra to the bottom of them. After a few moments of toying with the idea of leaving the Kunai in the tree, he gave it a hard yank and pulled it out almost losing his balance in the process.

Almost at the bottom of the tree his legs began to feel like jelly. It was a blessing that when his grip failed he only had a few meters to fall. He couldn't decide whether the ground was a boon or a curse. The damp mixed smell of grass and moss was mildly calming. He felt himself drifting off, and he couldn't pull up the energy to resist. Sleep sounded all too good to deny it to himself.

He didn't miss the footsteps that were drawing closer however, nor could he miss the grip on his shoulder and being forcefully rolled over. He eyes crackedopened by themselves and he found himself blurrily staring into the angered visage of Sasuke.

"Sacchin," Naruto murmured tiredly, "Lemme sleep, would you?" he closed his eyes again, only to grimace and open them on reflex as he was jerked up off the ground.

"I don't care if you saved my life," Sasuke hissed out, "But I'm not going to save you every time you mess up because I owe you."

"I didn't save you because I wanted you to owe me," Naruto said without warning, before a troubled look overcame his face, "At least I don't think I did." He blinked rapidly and shook his head before smiling up at Sasuke, "You're talking to me again," he stated as if it were obvious.

Sasuke scowled and looked away, before standing back up. "I don't know what you mean," she said coldly.

Naruto gave a small smile, "You shouldn't scowl, it makes you look less cute."

Sasuke's scowl deepened, and the last thing Naruto saw was a flesh covered object in front of his eyes.


	8. Faceless: First Kill

**Story: Faceless**

* * *

His prey was close. He could feel it on the wind, the haze that came from a person using chakra. Only one person in the village had that feel about them. That distinct feel of touching chakra, no matter how hard they tried to hide it, Naruto could still feel them. Down bellow in the market place civilians were going about their everyday business. Buying from renders, selling to customers; the everyday hustle and bustle of life.

But somewhere amongst them there was a pretender, someone who didn't belong. Someone who was upsetting the usual pattern. And they were very good at pretending to be normal.

But there were still signs, no mistake was made about that. The chakra he could feel it was in front of him, in the veritable sea of people—That was one misgiving that Naruto had about his target. Why did he have to pick a densely populated city? It would have been so much easier on him if he had just stuck to rural towns.

The flow of people was simple, inelegant and predictable. When someone interrupted the flow, when they went against the tide it was obvious. Ninja's in hiding were too smart to do anything except go with the flow. Though, some were too paranoid to hold the steady course.

And some didn't know that they were being tracked by more than just sight.

Naruto was able to see the entire showing area from his position high up above on top of one of the many buildings. He was in plain sight, if any of the civilians had bothered to look up they would have seen him easily. It had been what he had been counting on for his target; to see him.

But no, the civilians were too engrossed in their day to day activities that none of them looked up, none of them nudged the person next to them and pointed up to where he was. Which meant that his target wouldn't either for fear of being singled out.

Naruto reached to his side and picked up a medium sized paper bag. It weighed a bit, not terribly much for what it had inside. He absently unrumpled the top and reached in, picking out a single bread bun. He set it beside himself before scrunching the bag up and flinging it into the middle of the crowd.

The bag spun around in the air as it fell.

And then it promptly fell to pieces.

Literally.

The contents of the bag spilled out and were scattered onto the crowd bellow causing cries of annoyance and anger to raise from the crowds as they looked up.

And saw him.

Naruto grinned under his mask and slipped forwards off of the top of the five story tall building. He held a hand and a foot against the building as he slid down its front. A small application of chakra helped him cling to it as he dropped to the ground.

The crowd's eyes were glued onto him as he descended.

Oh yes, his target had noticed him. There was an abrupt stillness in the chakra signature he felt.

Naruto pushed off of the wall and dropped the rest of the way to the ground by himself. The crowds parted slightly to make room for him to land, some going as far as to push the people behind them back so they wouldn't be any closer then they had to be.

The ground collected Naruto mercifully; he landed on his feet with but a sound. Technically there was a thud, but Naruto had masked it.

"My apologies," Naruto said in tempered voice. His voice held certain dullness and yet had an edge to it that you only found in a select few ninja.

The civilians around him looked at him apprehensively.

He lifted an arm up and pointed towards the direction that the chakra signature was in. "There is a shop that sells hair brushes over there," Naruto said before abruptly vanishing without a trace.

Almost instantly Naruto reappeared on the building closest to his target amidst a light breeze.

A smile began to form on Naruto's lips.

The patterns were changing; his target had begun to attempt to escape. A shudder of excitement ran through Naruto as he watched the crowds below. He watched it for a specific thing. Someone breaking the patterns.

And then it happened

As casual as one might blink a pudgy man suddenly turned off from the way he was going, deliberately looking around the cityscape in a too casual manner. Oh yes it was him.

Naruto slowly exhaled through his nose, and the winds stirred, a gentle breeze picked up down below, ruffling clothes as it passed. A few noises were made in protest against the cold the breeze carried with it. His target didn't make any noise.

But his body language said it all; Stiffening posture, rigid steps. It said it all; fear.

It was tangible as his target rushed through the crowd pushing their way clear.

Ninja really were that paranoid. But then, most of them knew that around the corner a guy breathing fire could want to kill them. It was really logical in the end. In a crazy world the appropriate way to behave was... to be crazy.

Naruto blinked; his target was making a break for it.

The pudgy brown haired man ducked into an alleyway with more speed than someone of his stature should have been capable of. Naruto's lips quirked up as he lunged down into the alley after his target, ricocheting off the walls of the alley as he descended to the ground after his target.

"L-leave me alone!" The man shouted hysterically. "I don't want to go back, you can't make me!"

The henge protecting the man's identity disappeared.

In the pudgy, unsightly mans position a skinny light brown haired man stood, his back against the wall. Fear radiated off of the man. His eyes darted left and right, looking for a way to escape. The man took a deep breath and straightened up.

Naruto perked up slightly though he didn't show it.

"Izumi Shien, Former Chuunin of Konoha no sato you have been charged with treason."

Shien swallowed. "I-I don't want to be a ninja anymore, I can't handle it, the pressure it's too much, i just want to go back to being a civilian!"

Naruto tilted his head to the side as he observed his target. His target was taller than him, if by only a small amount. The man seemed to be aware of how little it mattered though.

"You want.. to go back to being a civilian?" Naruto echoed blankly. "That would have been all good and well if you had not come upon this revelation in the middle of a mission crucial to Konoha's defence."

Shien's eyes widened and a tremor ran through him again. The brown haired man's fist clenched.

"Your teammates are dead," Naruto said without emotion. "Due to your cowardice we had to bury six of our brothers and sisters."

Shien's eyes began to water and his breath began to sicken again. his eyes darted around the alley again, this time looking up over Naruto's head. "I didn't mean for it to happen," Shien said through a trembling breath. "It was an accident, how was I supposed to know that we would have been attacked from my post?!"

"You would have known if you had not run away."

Shien's fist clenched and he lunged at Naruto. His speed wasn't at all impressive for even a Chuunin. His attack started too high and he was aiming too low. Naruto marvelled at the fact that he had become a Chuunin in the first place.

Naruto weaved under the overstretched punch and drove his fist into his target's stomach. A gasp of pain came from Shien as Naruto slammed the taller man back into the end wall of the alley. As quickly as Naruto struck he withdrew his fist from the missing-nin's stomach, allowing him to slump to the ground.

He didn't stay down long, within moments he had slipped back onto his feet. he lunged forwards again, almost predictably. Naruto moved to counter him, but realized a split-second almost too late that it was a feign. Naruto clenched his fist and moved.

The satisfying crunch of cartilage cracking under his knuckles was his reward, along with a cry of pain that became a strangled gurgle. The brown haired man's head snapped back and collided with the wall behind him.

"What kind of Anbu wears a blank mask?" Shien whispered out through a pained breath as he pressed himself back against the wall behind him. His eyes darted around in front of him, looking everywhere but at the man in front of him, the man that had cornered him and taken his one chance away at freedom, at living a peaceful life.

Naruto hesitated for a moment before he leaned in close and whispered into the taller mans ear. "A pretend one." Shien's eyes widened for a moment before he stiffened and then, the muscled in his face slackened.

A line of red began to sprout from the man's throat, extending from the left until it encircled his entire neck. With s sickening slick sound the man's head toppled off of his shoulders onto the ground. The man's body remained in an upright position despite missing an integral part. It took a few moments for the blood flow to catch up to the situation. Even as the first spurts of blood began to erupt from the carotids the man's body shuddered.

And then it evaporated.

No, evaporated isn't the right word. The body erupted into a fine spray of red mist and a heavier greyish white powder. Where the body had been there were numerous scrapes on the ground and wall like thousands upon thousands of claw marks.

The head itself remained intact, if not soaked from the blood seeping out of the wound that had disjointed it from the main body.

Naruto absently withdrew a small scroll from his side pocket and flipped the catch open. he stretched out the scroll and laid it flat on the ground. Curiously, not a single dab of blood touched it, even the bloody mist that hung in the air refused to mingle with the material of the scroll. Naruto ran the back of his hand over the scroll smoothing it out before he reached over and picked the disembodied head up by its hair. He placed it on the centre of the scroll.

Naruto's hands slammed together in a brief seal before he pressed his palms down against the scroll laid out in front of him. A flare of chakra ran through his hands momentarily into the paper under palm. A small burst of smoke erupted from the middle of the scroll, clouding view for a moment. The smoke dispersed quick enough revealing the distinct lack of a head, and a new dark seal upon the scroll.

The middle of the scroll, where he had placed the head had a single seal upon it, it was the main system for the storage scroll, that determined how it operated. Around it were smaller singular seals, each identical in almost every way. The newest seal glistened in a morbid way. The other ones around it were dry.

In total there were two dozen seals on the scroll, including the newest addition.

Naruto exhaled through his nose slowly as he began to seal the scroll back up. His job wasn't finished yet, he didn't have any time to relax.

Because time was money, and he didn't have any money to spare.


	9. Faceless: Second Kill

**Story: Faceless**

* * *

Those that managed to see him lasted beyond the first few seconds. Not because they could dodge, or that they were lucky. No, Naruto let them survive because they didn't deserve to become dust as much as those who couldn't see what was in plain sight.

Naruto lunged at the closest person with their back to him. His grip on his weapon tightened and he slashed at the man's back. The blade never met the flesh. As it got close flesh split open before it. White appeared from beneath the fleshy layers of skin. It didn't touch the blade either.

Nothing touched the blade but air.

Steel flashed repeatedly.

Still nothing touched the blade, not even the blood that sprayed from the wounds.

Even as the man's body fell apart, Naruto was already beside another person, the blade of his tanto moving again.

And again.

And again.

The fourth person tried to fight him. They really did. They even held their sword in the correct stance. It deserved a reward, Naruto decided as he shattered the larger sword upon his tanto.

A delayed scream of pain erupted from the man's throat as his right hand promptly fell to the ground.

"Good work," Naruto praised as he slammed the flat of his blade against the mans head, sending him flying away.

"Coordinate!" Someone shouted with authority.

For a moment Naruto perked up, hoping it was the leader. He almost instantly deflated when he spied the Tsuchi forehead protector hanging from the man's belt. The man had a grizzled appearance and was marred with many a scar on his face.

"It's called a forehead protector for a reason," Naruto muttered under his breath as he disappeared from sight. "It protects your forehead," Naruto explained as he appeared directly behind the Tsuchi-nin. He didn't even bother to look back as the man's head split in halves, despite the morbid curiosity of how it would happen.

Pitter.

Patter.

Pitter.

Naruto frowned. It wasn't supposed to rain tonight.

The rainfall began light, and after a few moments it intensified into a deluge. The rain was putting out the fires that had started when he had blown up the bonfire. It couldn't have been natural rain to have such a quick and unexpected start.

A jutsu maybe?

As the last of the fires were extinguished the rain fall began to lessen slightly.

Yeah it was definitely a technique.

Naruto's grip on his tanto tightened. An almost electric charge ran through the air. No, not a literal electric charge. Just a feeling. Chakra was building in the rain. Naruto spun around and quickly scanned the area. All the survivors were getting away from him as quickly as they could.

The chakra in the air snapped.

Crackled

and popped.

Or maybe that was just his joints as he flung himself backwards to avoid becoming a pin cushion to thousands upon thousands of water needles. The liquid projectiles missed Naruto, splattering on the ground harmlessly.

Naruto's frown deepened. The puddle created by the needles was already evaporating.

This... was new. Naruto had to admit. He had not encountered an Ame nin that lived up to the name. Naruto licked his lips. This presented a small problem. He lunged to his right without thinking much as a spray of needles again pelted the spot he was in. There was too much chakra saturating the air for him to get a lock on the person using the technique.

There was too much... moisture in the air-- too much water-- too much rain.

Whoever was using the technique had to be within sight of him, or perhaps they were relying on their chakra sense as he was. Naruto drummed his fingers against the grip of his tanto, after a few seconds, and another half hearted dodge he slipped the tanto behind his back, back into it's sheath. It was pointless to have it in hand, when he couldn't use it to cut anything.

Naruto jumped backwards, and then to the right, and back again.

It was getting old real fast.

Naruto didn't even bother fully dodging the next wave. A few of the water needles pierced through the unprotected flesh of his upper arm a tingling sensation ran through Naruto's arm. It quickly disappeared, but it wasn't quick enough for Naruto not to recognise it.

A faint link between the rapidly dissipating needles and the Ame nin.

Naruto stood his ground as the next wave of needles sliced into him. The majority of them bit into the armour on his chest and the arm guards, but enough impacted on his skin for his purpose.

Naruto spun around with a vicious grin under his mask.

"Found you!" Naruto snarled and thrust his right hand towards a smouldering building.

A wave of distortion erupted from his hand. It was the only way to explain it as it tore through the air towards the building. The sound... was painful to hear. A fractured grinding sound filled the air, like thousands of buzz saws echoing at once. Everything in the path of the distortion disintegrated on contact. The attack punched through the back of the building and disperced.

Naruto looked on in satisfaction as the structure collapsed in on itself and a blur shot out from the side and landed a dozen meters in front of him.

"You...." The Ame nin growled out.

He wore the standard outfit for Amegakure, he lacked a headband however, and the umbrella's on his back that Naruto usually associated with the Ninja.

"Shall we begin, Hajiku-kun?" Naruto asked with an amount of amusement in his voice.

The Ame nin gritted his teeth together.

His hands flashed through a dozen hand seals in a split-second.

And the rain began to fall harder.

Pitter

Patter.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and began to focus his chakra in a distinctive way. The rain above and around him parted to his sides.

"Refreshing," Naruto commented lightly as he slowly began to his lift his hand up to the sky.

"No you don't!" the enemy-nin snarled out and slammed both of his hands down into the ground.

The world blurred under the disillusion of water as the pitter patter of rain disappeared amongst the scream of a monsoon. The raindrops in the air tore through the air towards Naruto. Naruto's form was blurred through the constant torrent of water surging towards him from every direction.

And then the raindrops exploded outwards in a gust of wind, revealing an unruffled Naruto with his hand still raised in the air.

"That was a bit of overkill, wasn't it?" Naruto remarked calmly holding his position.

"Just die!" The Ame nin shouted in mild frustration.

The Raindrops continued to torrent towards Naruto. Whenever they got within a few feet of Naruto they would explode into vapour. Some of the onlookers, who had taken cover and prepared themselves to fight after the Ame-nin had relented could see mild distortions surrounding the blank-masked nin that had nothing to do with their leader's technique.

"**Itteirasshai**," Naruto said quietly.

The Ame-nin lost balance and fell face first onto the ground. His immediate screams were muffled by the ground. His arms fell to the ground separately. The downpour slowly began to halt to a drizzle as the Jounin writhed on the ground. After a few moments the Ame nin managed to recompose himself and brought himself to his feet again through constant trembles. He immediately fell to his knees with heavy breathing.

"Bastard...." The armless missing nin slurred. "I ca...n't di....not her-"

His head dropped to the ground and his body became motionless even as blood began to gush out of the wound.

Naruto gradually lowered his hand down to his side.

The settlement was silent. The surviving bandits, missing-nin and rabble that made up the group stared on in silent horror.

A light breeze rolled through the settlement.


	10. Faceless: Third Kill P1

**Story: Faceless**

* * *

Naruto drummed his fingers against the tiled roof below him, Naruto could smell him, taste him and if Naruto wanted to, he could reach out and snack the man's life away. Well... he could, if his target wasn't surrounded by civilians. He was fine with killing fellow Shinobi, they had signed up for their career with the knowledge in mind that it was tantamount to painting a giant 'Throw pointy things at me' on their back, and if they hadn't realized that then ignorance was bliss, at least until they got a few dozen shurriken in their back.

Civilians on the other hand had made no such choice. They were more, or less—usually less, innocent. It meant that Naruto couldn't kill them or write them off as collateral damage without being uneasy about it for a few months.

So, Naruto waited.

His target was in a bar. Pretending to be a traveller, technically they were travelling. So maybe they weren't pretending? Well they were, pretending to be normal.

It was a smart enough move; no one expected a ninja to get drunk. It was one of the reasons why Jiraiya could dress so flamboyantly and get away with it.

The thought of his old teacher caused Naruto to frown under his mask.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply for a few moments before focusing on the tavern again.

The closing time for the establishment was one o'clock in the morning.

It was at least ten to one, Naruto assumed; Last time he checked it was twelve thirty. Some people were already starting to leave, not waiting for the bar tender to throw them out on their asses.

His target wasn't among those ones.

Naruto continued to tap his fingers on the roof of the tavern in a steady beat. This was one of the few times he had gone out of his way to cash in the bounty of a strictly Non-Konoha nin.

Technically the run-in with the Rain-nin a few weeks back didn't count because they had had Chitsu Ami with them.

An amused smile lit up on Naruto's face as the purple haired Genin drifted through his mind, and soon a chuckle escaped; A Patrol had stumbled across a neatly wrapped present near the Fire countries border.

Naruto had briefly wondered if the girl had been delivered to the Hokage in that condition, or whether they had removed the pink bow he had attached to the ropes that bound her.

"I love you guys!" a loud man slurred as he pushed open the doors of the pub and swung around, facing the door and walking backwards a few steps. Black hair spackled with grey, sunken brown eyes and an otherwise friendly face.

Naruto perked up slightly; It was his target.

The man's henge was flawless, Naruto would have to admit, though no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hide the neatly concealed ball of chakra he held within him. It was a big red beacon to everyone who could sense it.

Simply put, Civilians didn't have chakra, so if you had chakra, then you were a ninja.

Naruto reached behind himself and gripped the tanto sheathed on his lower back.

A single clean cut and that'd be all that was needed.

"Where are you staying tonight, friend?" An old, greying man asked his target with a smile as he stepped out from the pub underneath Naruto.

"Hotel or something, I'd bet!" His target said with a boisterous laugh. "Should have money enough for a few more nights at least," he went on to say.

Naruto nodded eagerly. This was what he was waiting for, a chance to eliminate the target while he was by himself.

"I would be more than happy to accept you as a guest at my house, I'm sure my wife would love some company as well."

"Such hospitality," the target mumbled in a low, embarrassed voice.

"I insist!" the Civilian said loudly as he stepped forwards and slung an arm over the targets shoulders.

This... was not supposed to happen.

Naruto let his hand drop from the tanto.

This wasn't supposed to happen at all.

The two began to talk animatedly as they turned towards the northern end of the village at the behest of the civilian.

Naruto exhaled slowly and stood up on the roof.

It didn't matter; the goal was still clear, all he had to do was take out the target in a single attack.

Naruto reached behind himself and grasped his tanto again, easing it out of its sheath. The drawing motion drew a soft grinding sound

The target suddenly stopped.

Naruto cursed silently as he jerked the tanto the rest of the way out of its sheath with a loud hissing sound of rusted metal grinding against metal. Naruto swore to himself that after he got the money from this bounty he'd clean the fuck out of the weapon.

Naruto empowered his legs with chakra and jumped off of the building, towards the target. His feet hit the ground with a light thumping sound before he burst into motion, running towards the target.

The sound of steal being drawn had alerted the man to his presence, and lost him the element of surprise.

The target pushed the civilian to the side away from him. Naruto slashed his tanto at the man's neck, extending the reach of the edge of the blade with his chakra. The man's henge conveniently decided to break at that moment, releasing a cloud of smoke that obscured him from view at the last second.

The tanto flashed through the cloud of smoke, meeting nothing but air.

Naruto leaned backwards just in time to avoid a heel to his face. He stepped forwards into the smoke and slashed his weapon diagonally through the smoke.

This time it struck true, or at least felt like it for a moment as resistance met the blade. Naruto funnelled pure air natured chakra into the length of the blade and tore through the resistance like tissue paper.

Naruto felt a warm splatter against the mask on his face, and the strong smell of blood met his nose.

He jumped backwards and waited for the rest of the smoke to disperse.

It did, revealing a brown haired, middle aged man with the same sunken eyes that the henge had had. Instead of the travelling clothes that he had been wearing before, he wore a worn out, frayed and dirty clothes. The man stood strong, one hand clutching a bloody stump of what used to be his forearm.

"You bastard," the man snarled out through gritted teeth. "One after the other you people always come, Why won't you leave me alone?!" he all but yelled in Naruto's face.

Naruto kept his silence as he brought his weapon up again.

The man reached down with his remaining hand and picked up the detached remainder of his arm.

"This," he ground out, "This was my favourite arm you son of a bitch."

Naruto tilted his head to the side.

"Don't worry, where you're going you won't need to masturbate."

Just as the man opened his mouth to speak a briefly look of pain appeared on his face and a tendril of lightning erupted from his chest, striking the ground with a crack. The man slumped forwards revealing a blackened mark on the back of his shirt—still smoking.

"Ara…I over did it." A female voice remarked with a faint hint of surprise.

Naruto snapped his head upwards in surprise.

A shadowed figure was crouched a top a branch that seemed too thin to support anyone, a single hand was extended towards the unconscious and bleeding out form of his target. Arcs of lighting appeared to be jumping up and down her arm.

Two curious grey eyes stared out from a woman's face. She couldn't have been older then her mid twenties. Her face was framed by dark bangs. Naruto's eyes briefly flickered up to her forehead from her eyes and back again. The design was peculiar, not the metal plate itself but the bandana style that the plate was stitched to.

The plate itself was adorned with a standard Kumo symbol.

The woman stood up and the branch beneath her shifted ever so slightly. A grey scarf fluttered from behind her and Naruto was able to make out the rest of what she wore; A slightly tweaked version of the standard sleeveless vest with a fishnet mesh underneath, wrist guards.

The most peculiar thing of all, was the heavy cloth that was draped around her hips and split to the side, revealing a pair of legs that disappeared under the cloth and a pair of standard footwear.

Neither Naruto nor the newcomer said anything for a few moments.

"Thank you for the assistance, Kunoichi-san," Naruto said calmly and bowed forwards ever so slightly.

The woman smiled and dropped down from the branch, landing on the ground with a light thud. She began to walk towards Naruto in a calm, relaxed manner. "Kirimaki Suzu," she introduced herself as she stepped around the unconscious man on the ground. "And who are you?" She asked, setting her hands on her hips.

She was shorter than he was, Naruto noted, an inch or so.

"I cannot say," Naruto said slowly as he reached behind himself and sheathed his tanto.

The Kunoichi pouted lightly. "Don't be that way, I told you my name, you could at least tell me yours."

"Protocol states that I am not authorized." Naruto explained calmly.

The Kunoichi pouted lightly. "Come on, don't be that way those rules don't really apply to you, do they?" She asked earnestly.

"I am unsure what you mean," Naruto said coolly.

"I mean," she drawled out, "That since you're not a real ANBU you're allowed to kiss and tell."

Naruto stiffened, he had tried to stop himself but it had been too late. She had seen it, the widening smile on her lips told Naruto that much.

"I thought so," she murmured as she slid her hands backwards off her hips onto her lower back, emphasizing her chest—not that there was terribly much to emphasize. "Since that is the case, you won't mind if I take the missing nin here off your hands." She said in a sickly sweet manner.

"I cannot allow you to do that, Kirimaki Suzu." Naruto matched his gaze with the woman's through the blackened slits in his mask.

"Ara?" The woman exclaimed mildly.

Naruto lunged backwards just as steel flashed in front of his eyes. Naruto felt the porcelain mask on his face crack slightly. He didn't stop moving until he had a good ten meters between him and the woman—Kirimaki Suzu.

Kirimaki Suzu stood facing Naruto with her arms up in front of her face, fists clenched around two identical weapons—Tanto?

Naruto stared in mute surprise even as he reached behind himself and clasped his own with one hand, and reached up to touch the crack forming on his mask with the other.

"I've been tracking this low life for a full week," Suzu said slowly as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes with her thumb. "He's mine."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "A week? I only picked up his bounty yesterday."

Grey eyes narrowed.

Naruto grinned under his mask.

"Son of a—" The woman snarled as she jumped into motion.

Naruto leant to the side, able to gauge the woman's movements with clarity at such the distance. The moment she got within striking distance, Naruto almost missed it as her fist flashed in his vision. He opened a channel to the bladed weapon in his hand and pushed his chakra into the construct.

Naruto slashed his tanto at the woman's face. He hesitated at the last moment… no that wasn't it, he held back. Naruto berated himself as the woman's quicker reflexes had her raise her open weapon in defence. Not that it mattered, his tanto could cut through anything.

The tanto clashed against each other.

Each combatant looked on in mild horror as they watched the two blades collide. The wind chakra in Naruto's weapon cut true into the edge of the opposing weapon. It would have cut clean through had the muscles in Naruto's arm not frozen at the last second. In a slit second both tantos were jerked back and looked of alarm were displayed—at least Suzu's was; she couldn't see Naruto's face.

"My…" Suzu uttered out as she stared down at the chipped edge of her weapon. She snapped her head up and glared at Naruto—furious anger in her eyes. "You bastard!" she snarled as she lunged forwards.

Naruto grimaced under his mask as he tried to move the muscles in his arm. The responses were shot, though he could feel control returning to him slowly. Naruto stepped backwards and brought his tanto up in front of him,. The moment Suzu got within arm's reach she twisted her body and kicked off from the ground. Naruto raised his arm in front of him just in time to block a bone shaking heel drop to the side of his head. Without pause Naruto quickly thrust his tanto at the extended leg.

A hiss escaped him as the touch of cold metal scraped his arm a long with a naked numbness. Naruto quickly pushed the lighter and smaller Kunoichi away from him and jumped backwards. He landed with a slight wobble and glanced down at his leg. He frowned under his mask again. He hadn't noticed her when she cut his leg.

Naruto quickly switched his gaze back to Suzu. She wore a self satisfied smirk on her lips. Naruto had the strangest urge to wipe it off them. But he had to concede she had better taijutsu then he did. Close range was a big no-no in this fight.

His thought hadn't even completed itself before he was set upon again... Naruto got the hint; Stay out of reach or else. Sadly he didn't listen to the small voice that gave the hint. Naruto lashed out with his tanto and went on the offensive briefly. The Kumo nin reacted instantly and pulled her arms inside her guard.

Her style was curious, Naruto mused as he continued to slash at the woman's guard; each strike was parried, never blocked out right. She had a boxers guard. Up close she threw her attacks like a boxer as well. Tantos in hand the attacks were hard to dodge out right.

Naruto blinked.

And let the next punch hit him directly, a grimace escaped him as his nose cracked under the force.

Suzu's eyes widened in surprise, and a second later a cry of pain escaped her lips as Naruto slammed her into the ground.

Naruto had to give it to her, she didn't let him have even a moment of victory. His tanto was placed against the scarf around her neck, and if he wasn't mistaken, The lack of feeling in his stomach muscles meant that hers were pressed against it.

"You're pretty good," Suzu murmured as she stared up at Naruto's masked face intently.

"Likewise," Naruto offered quietly.

She smiled, and slowly the smile on her lips widened.

Naruto frowned.

Why was she smiling?

Through the slits in his mask Naruto saw the smallest piece of porcelain fall from his mask.

His eyes widened.

Naruto let go of Suzu's clothing and jumped backwards, barely avoiding the twin tanto's that the woman wielded. He reached up and touched upon the mask lightly, and felt it crack further under his touch.

"What's the matter Blondie?" The smaller woman taunted, "Scared of me?"

He wasn't really, impressed maybe.

Naruto gestured for her to come.

The Kumo Kunoichi scowled and began to jog towards Naruto, before speeding up.

Naruto licked his lips.

She jumped, and spun.

Naruto leant backwards, avoiding the attack. He timed it perfectly, even as Suzu brought her tanto down to his neck he had already moved. There were no sparked, nothing but a sharp sound as the tanto's met and Naruto's sliced through the already chipped weapon. A mild grimace appeared on Naruto's face as the remnant blade attached to the handle of the tanto sliced into his arm. Rendering the muscles numb again.

Naruto pressed forwards and moved inside her hastily erected guard. At least, he tried to. He had expected her to be shocked by her tanto breaking, like she had been when the edge had been cracked. He held a pair of hands grip his shirt through the fading numbness of his stomach.

Naruto instantly reacted, trying to stop the smaller woman from gaining leverage but to no avail. Naruto felt a knee raise up and press to his lower body, and the world around him rolled. A grunt escaped Naruto as his back was slammed into the ground, and another when the limber Kunoichi followed through and landed on his chest, her knees at his sides and tanto digging in to fabric covering his chest.

Suzu licked her lips and smiled. "Make a move and you won't live to feel another thing."

Naruto tensed for a moment, but quickly relaxed as the tanto dug into his ribs.

"That's a good boy," the Kunoichi said in a patronizing way. "Drop your weapon," she ordered.

The blade in Naruto's hand fell to earth with a light thud.

The girl's smile widened.

"Very good, see, you aren't a total waste, now let's just take that mask off and then we can have a nice chat." Suzu lifted the hand with the broken tanto up to Naruto's face and gripped the side of the mask.

Naruto's eyes flickered up above the girl straddling him to a fast moving silvery glint in the sky. Without hesitating Naruto reached to the Kunoichi's chest and gripped her vest, yanking her forwards. The Tanto against his chest dug into his flesh, but it didn't matter.

A cry of pain escaped Suzu's lips and she slumped forwards on top of Naruto. Without a word Naruto pushed the Kunoichi off of him and rolled away. He glanced back to the quivering form of Suzu. Her lower back was stained bloody red, even through the thick material of her clothes. Beside her was a red splattered blade—the end of her broken tanto.

"Bastard," Suzu gritted out as she struggled to get on to her feet.

Naruto knew why she struggled; The broken end of the tanto had still held the effects of what she was using to numb him when she struck. It was the perfect time to finish the job, or at least incapacitate her. Naruto glanced back to the crumbled form of his target.

Incapacitate sounded good.


	11. Faceless: Third Kill P2

**Story: Faceless**

* * *

Naruto hummed to himself tunelessly as he pushed open the front doors of the Hokage tower. It was a good day. He had been given a free bowl of ramen from Ayame-chan; He had woken up on time, and according to Shikamaru he had gotten up on the right side of the bed, to his apparent annoyance.

All in all things were looking bright, and that wasn't just because he had accidentally looked at the sun! Naruto jogged up the stairs at a sedate pace, slowing down to a walk as he neared the doors of Tsunade's office.

"I'm here!" Naruto exclaimed as he pushed the doors opened with a wide smile.

Naruto blinked, and then blinked again, uncomprehending of the information his eyes were feeding his brain.

Twin faces stared back to him. One of which looked almost as surprised as he no doubt did.

"Morning Baa-chan," Naruto greeted as he forced his smile back on and walked forwards into the room and kept his gaze focused on the blonde haired Godaime.

"Naruto," Tsunade greeted grudgingly before she turned her gaze to the two other people in the room. "Is this him?"

"Naruto?" one of the girls echoed before turning her head to her twin and quirking her head. She received a nod in return.

"It's him," the girl confirmed in a soft voice.

Tsunade let out an aggravated sigh before turning to Naruto with a withering glare.

"What?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Oh, Naruto, don't you recognize us.. after all we've been through together?" the girl closest to him said with a light pout as she turned towards Naruto and smiled sweetly.

As she stepped closer Naruto tensed and her smile widened as she lifted her hands up and slipped them around Naruto's neck.

"What the hell do you want Suzu?" Naruto whispered quietly, is lips barely moving.

Suzu's eyes glittered with malice excitement and amusement as she leaned closer her faces close to Naruto's. "Smile for the Hokage," she murmured as she closed the small gap between them.

Tsunade watched, her eyes widening by a fraction as the closest thing she had to a brother stood still as the Kumo Kunoichi put her moves on him. In front of her desk the Kunoichi's sister watched impassively.

After a few seconds Naruto brought his hands up and grasped Suzu by the shoulders, before pulling her off of him, with little to no resistance from her.

"I thought you hadn't taken after Jiraiya, but I guess I had too much faith in you." Tsunade said in an annoyed fashion.

"What?" Naruto asked dumbly as he stared at the overly-cat-like grin that Suzu sported out of Tsunade's view.

"Since you both are… so close." Tsunade seemed to have a hard time finding the right words for it. "They're your responsibility while they're in the village."

"Wha.. wait what?" Naruto asked startled before he began to protest. "But Baa-chan–"

"No buts about it," Tsunade snapped irritably. "They came all the way from Kumo because of you and you **will** take responsibility."

"Right," Naruto said in defeat. "My responsibility."

Suzu wrapped her arms around Naruto's arm and began to drag Naruto towards the door. "Thank you Hokage-sama for reuniting us."

Naruto didn't struggle as he was led out of Tsunade's office.

The moment that they were clear of the door Naruto yanked his arm out of Suzu's grip.

"The hell are you doing here?" Naruto demanded to know.

Suzu blinked in surprise before an innocent look overcame her visage. "Whatever do you mean, Naruto–" She paused before repeating it again, rolling it off her tongue. "Naruto, that is your name. What is your last name?" she asked.

"Uzumaki." Naruto muttered as he glanced back at Rinn as she silently observed him.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Suzu rolled the name off her tongue in satisfaction.

Naruto glowered at the dark haired Kunoichi in silence.

"I am hungry," Suzu's sister, Rinn announced quietly, "I believe it is your duty to formally see to it our needs are met." She tilted her head to the side, "That is your responsibility, is it not?"

Suzu turned to Rinn. "Dango?"

"Ramen."

"Ramen?" Naruto echoed suspiciously.

"Miso," Rinn nodded her head lightly.

"I don't like Ramen though," Suzu insisted as she folded her arms across her chest. "I want Dango."

"Will you be paying?" Rinn inquired in an almost too-polite voice.

Suzu puffed her cheeks out before pointing to Naruto. "He's paying, so it doesn't matter, does it?"

Rinn tilted her head to the side before nodding in acceptance.

"Dango and Ramen," Rinn and Suzu decided at the same time, before turning to face Naruto again. "Where are the closest Dango and Ramen shops?" They said in unison.

Naruto blinked before a light shiver travelled down his spine and he answered, "Ichiraku for Ramen and I don't know where to buy Dango."

Suzu gave Naruto a light glare before she huffed. "Fine." she gestured towards the staircase, "Lead on O'Faceless one."

Naruto ignored the name and began walking down the stairs. He heard the footsteps of the Kumo Kunoichi follow him downwards. They were whispering things to each other, things that Naruto couldn't hear. He kept his comments to himself and pointedly ignored the looks he was getting from the people in the lobby.

The sunlight was bright outside of the Hokage tower, but the sprawling city buildings took care of masking it from direct view unless it was overhead, thankfully.

"So, what do you do for fun in Konoha?" Suzu asked as she stepped up to Naruto's side and threaded her arm around his.

"Train," Naruto muttered under his breath as his feet followed the almost instinctive path towards the Ramen stand.

"Oh yeah?" Suzu smiled innocently, "Do you wana train with us after we eat, Naruto?"

Naruto remained silent and continued walking, his eyes fixated straight ahead.

A light hand touched upon Naruto's upper arm, causing him to pause and follow it to it's owner.

Rinn's calm and collected gaze stared back at him.

"I believe this belongs to you, Naruto-san?"

Rinn held out the remains of a broken bone white mask.

Naruto stared at it for a moment before accepting it with a quiet thank you.

A second later it disintegrated as a small typhoon erupted in his hand, leaving a small white cloud of dust to attest to it ever existing.

Rinn's gaze turned curious for a moment as she uttered a single word. "Why?"

"Evidence?" Naruto offered as he dusted his hands.

"Way to go Nee-sama," Suzu muttered under her breath, her disposition suddenly becoming grumpy.

"Ayame-neechan!" Naruto called out as soon as he was in hearing range of the Ramen stand.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, back so soon?" Ayame called back in surprise from behind the counter, behind her her old man was diligently making Ramen.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto echoed in surprise.

Green eyes met blue as Naruto's pink haired teammate looked up from her bowl in surprise.

After a few seconds and a swallow Sakura spoke, "I thought you had finished lunch already? Don't tell me you're back for more?" An expression of disapproval formed on Sakura's face.

Naruto shook his head in muted distress. "No, these two wanted lunch so I brought them here," Naruto protested.

Sakura for the first time noticed Suzu beside Naruto and Rinn a few feet behind. "Who are they?" Sakura asked curiously. "They're from Kumo aren't they? What are they doing here?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and began to explain, before he was over spoken by Suzu.

"We're here to see Naruto of course," Suzu said loudly hugging herself closer to Naruto's arm. She smiled coyly at Sakura. "It's been a while since we've been together, so I thought I'd stop by and catch up on... old times." Suzu leaned up to Naruto's ear and bit down on it, Naruto reacted instantly and flinched away with an embarrassed look forming on his face.

Sakura's eyes widened lightly as they flickered from Suzu to Naruto. "Naruto is she your...?" She trailed off uncertainly.

"No," Naruto rejected the notion immediately. "No way in--" He gritted his teeth together as Suzu's fingers dug into his arm.

"Naruto was my first," Suzu admitted with a faint blush on her cheek. "When he was done with me...kyah!" Suzu buried her face in Naruto's arm. "I couldn't even move!"

Naruto stared down in horror at Suzu before switching his gaze to a rapidly reddening Sakura.

"I-"

"I'm glad for you Naruto," Sakura said with a strained voice and smile. She turned to Ayame and bowed slightly. "Thank you for the meal."

"But you're only half done," Ayame pointed out sheepishly having stayed silent between the exchange.


	12. Faceless: Third Kill P5

**Story: Faceless**

* * *

"A bath would be good right now," Naruto murmured to himself as he opened the door to his inn room and stepped inside. He didn't even bother to take a look behind him to see if the flaxen haired kunoichi would follow him inside, the soft sounds of Samui's footsteps followed him into the room.

Naruto sighed and gestured towards the table and seats in the middle of the room. "Make yourself comfortable, I won't take too long."

Naruto unzipped the front of his jacket and shrugged it off, before dropping it on a chair and walking into the bathroom. Naruto slid the door to the bathroom shut behind himself and glanced around the smallish bathroom. It had the bare basics, a sink, a bathtub, and a rack to hang his clothing which already had a towel draped over it.

Naruto reached towards the taps positioned over the bathtub and turned the hot water tap on. A stream of water burst forth from the tap into the bathtub. Naruto slid his hand into the water stream and grimaced slightly at the still cold water. The expression faded as the water began to turn warm, and after a few seconds Naruto withdrew his hand as the water turned scalding. Naruto absently turned the cold water faucet on and reduced the temperature to something milder.

Naruto stepped away from the bathtub, and without much though went on autopilot, removing his remainclothes and the various steel and paper implements that were attached to the various nooks and crannies of his clothing, setting them aside in a separate pile. As Naruto moved to relieve himself of his underwear he heard the sound of a screen being opened.

"I was told not to let you leave my eyesight for the duration of your stay in Kumogakure."

Naruto started and spun around, a glare centred in his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto demanded to know, not bothering to cover himself.

Samui repeated herself calmly.

Naruto gave the Kumo Kunoichi an incredulous look. "He didn't mean it literally."

"That is not my determination."

Naruto folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not letting you watch me take a bath."

Samui's unflinching stare met Naruto's glare.

"What could I possibly do that would threaten your village in the bath?" Naruto asked exasperatedly.

"I will remain with you for the duration of your stay in Kumogakure or until I am otherwise instructed." Samui repeated her intent and folded her arms.

"Can't you remain 'with me' on the other side of the door?" Naruto asked slowly.

"No."

Naruto decided to change tactics. "You know, I don't think I can hold myself back if you're so intent on being in here with me." He took a step towards Samui, who besides raising an eyebrow had no other external reaction.

Samui remained silent.

"I mean," Naruto began slyly, "Insisting on watching me bath? That's kind of perverted."

"It is my duty." Samui said stoically. "There is nothing perverted about it."

Naruto remained quiet for a few moments internally debating what the best chance he had for getting the Kunoichi out of the bathroom while he was using it.

"You know, I'm kind of attracted to you," Naruto said with a smile. "I wouldn't really mind you watching me take a bath, but, I'm kind of passionate about that kind of thing."

The only reaction that the large breasted woman gave was a raised eyebrow.

"I don't think I could hold myself back from molesting you," Naruto insisted, gesturing with his hands. At the kunoichi's lack of response Naruto's eyes narrowed. Before he internally came to a decision.

"In fact…"

Naruto reached towards Samui's chest and without hesitation slipped his finger tips under the layer of fishnet mesh and wrapped his hand around the flesh of Samui's breast. Throughout the motion Naruto kept his eyes latched onto Samui's, unflinchingly, who matched his stare emotionlessly.

Naruto groped Samui's breast testingly, sinking his fingers into the soft malleable flesh. His lips curved into a mild smirk. "Gotcha Samui."

The Flaxen haired woman finally cast her eyes away from Naruto's, and a light blush purchased itself on her cheeks. "Please, be gentler..." she said softly.

Naruto was taken aback at the unexpected response.

After a few moment's the blush on Samui's cheeks started to fade and she returned her gaze to Naruto. Naruto could almost see the accusation in her eyes. "A real man would have followed through on his acti- " She was cut off from finishing as Naruto groped her breast roughly, causing her to falter in her speech.

"You know" Naruto began mockingly as he continued to massage Samui's breast. "For being such a cold bitch you really like this sort of thing don't you?"

Samui didn't reply, her cheeks had once again taken on a rosy hue, and her eyes were heavy-lidded.

"They must be pretty sensitive for something as simple as this to affect you so," Naruto noted quietly as his fingers kneaded the older Jounin's chest. His fingers eagerly trailed over the soft supple skin and soon enough his thumb found a peak that, as the digit passed over it stiffened.

A shiver ran through Samui's body, and at the same time she reached forwards, grasping Naruto's shoulder with a cool soft hand, to keep herself steady.

A curious smile appeared on Naruto's lips as his left hand, which up until then, had been unoccupied reached towards Samui's remaining breast. Just as his finger tips grazed the fishnet underlay that Samui wore, a hand wrapped around Naruto's wrist, stilling his movements.

"That will be quite enough." Samui said calmly, as she dropped her hand from Naruto's shoulder and reached towards Naruto's still groping hand. Samui's eyes widened mildly as Naruto tweaked the flaxen haired woman's nipple, causing her cheeks to once again burst into colour.

Naruto quickly withdrew his hand after that, rather than chance losing it.

"So," he began after a moment of watching the barely flustered kunoichi shift her garments back into place. "Would you like to take a bath with me?" He waggled his eyebrows. "Water's still warm."

"I will pass," Samui said after a moment of silence. "I will wait outside."

Naruto blinked in a mild state of confusion as the large breasted woman turned around and walked out of the bathroom, before shutting the door behind her. Of all the possible ways that it could have ended, he hadn't foreseen the conclusion that it had taken.

Naruto glanced down at his right hand and smiled to himself, absently flexing his fingers inwards.


	13. Faceless: Fourth Kill

**Story: Faceless**

* * *

Naruto smiled and ran a hand over his face and into his hair as he approached Konoha's main gates. They loomed invitingly in the distance. It had been a long two weeks since he had left on his requested training trip, and he was glad to be back.

It had nothing to do with Ichikiri's in anyway, shape or form. Really it didn't.

Okay, maybe just a little, but it was to be expected.

Naruto squinted his eyes as the last remnants of the sun peaked over the Hokage monument in the distance. Naruto felt light on his feet as he came within shouting distance of the gates. He felt giddy, for a reason he wasn't sure how to explain besides 'I'm home'.

The gates were opening as he approached.

A few hours before he had come across a patrol-- a group of Genin from Konohamaru's graduating class that he hadn't met before, but had apparently known about him. The almost-awe that they held him in was nice. Digressing aside, They had sent advanced warning that he was on his way back.

"Ohayo, Uzumaki-san," A brown haired Chuunin greeted from behind the both attached to the inside of the gates. "Back from your training trip, right on time as well," he went on to an impressed tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto protested as he approached the checkin station.

The Chuunin smiled in amusement holding their hands up in mock-surrender, "Nothing, jeez, relax, just playing with you." The Chuunin dropped a pen down on the hard wooden desk in front of him and slid a form.

Narto glared at the Chuunin for a few moments before a smile broke out on his lips and a laugh escaped him. "How's things been here?" Naruto asked as he picked up the pen and began to fill out the form in almost illegible scribbles.

"Nothing much has been happening in Konoha," the Chuunin admitted, before hesitating, "Though, you might be interested to know that we've been receiving a lot of confirmation on bounties being claimed."

Naruto didn't bother to hide his look of surprise. "What?"

"Yeah it's unsettled a few people here," the Chuunin admitted, "Whether it's because they knew them, or.. well.. you know." 'Because they were thinking about it' went unsaid.

The rest of the time Naruto spent filling out the form passed in an uncomfortable silence.

"Done," Naruto murmured before pushing the sheet of paper back across the desk and dropping the pen. "See you later."

The Chuunin offered a slight smile, "It's good to have you back Uzumaki-san."

Naruto walked towards the Hokage tower with a look of thought upon his face that almost looked out of place upon his usually carefree face. He got a few strange looks from the people in the streets as he walked down the centre of the streets, moving to the left or right at times to avoid various people.

By the time he got to the tower the walls of Konoha had cast a long shadow over the sprawling city.

Naruto didn't even bother to stop by the reception desk as he made his way up the Hokage's office. At this time of day Tsunade would be asleep, probably or catching up on the work she should have been doing... when she was sleeping. No one bothered to stop him as he ascended the steps to the top of the tower.

When he arrived at the wooden doors of the office he rapped his knuckle upon the door a few times before waiting.

"Enter," Tsunade's voice came from beyond the door, muffled by the thick wood.

"Baa-chan," Naruto greeted with a wide smile upon his face as he swung open the door. "I'm back!"

"Naruto?" A few extra voices exclaimed in surprise.

Naruto blinked owlishly, "Eh, Sakura-chan, Sai? What are you guys doing here?"

Sakura, his pink haired teammate stared at him with a wide-eyed look of surprise, and a small amount of happiness. Sai on the other hand held the same look he usually had, a bored, detached expression, occasionally replaced by an insincere smile.

"You're back," Tsunade stated flatly with a small, tiny, almost inconceivable smile on her lips. "Just in time as well."

"For what?" Naruto asked with a blank stare of confusion.

"We were just being brief on a mission," Sakura explained dropping her smile.

Naruto's expression broke out into a smile. "Awesome! I can show you guy's my cool new moves."

The straw blonde Hokage frowned, "This isn't the kind of mission you can show off in Naruto." She tapped her finger upon a scroll that laid out on her desk. "There is a situation developing on the River country border. The supply caravans between Konoha and Suna are being raided."

Naruto frowned. "When did it start happening?" He asked as he skimmed oer the scroll on Tsunade's desk.

"About a week before you left on your training trip, officially, unofficially this has apparently been happening for a month without either village knowing about it." Tsunade lent back on her chair. "We were fortunate to catch this before it got out of hand," Tsunade admitted. "Even though we did catch it it's gonna cause some political fallout."

"But...." Naruto trailed off slowly, "If no one knew about it.. does that mean... that someone is covering it up?" He asked slowly.

Tsunade nodded calmly. "That is the case, right now we're hoping to catch the problem at it's root before it spreads. Normally I would send a more specialized squad in to deal with this, but currently the more appropriate teams are on other missions." A disgruntled look overcame Tsunade's expression.

"Some idiot gave them all missions that overlapped with the next supply caravan."

"It cannot be a coincidence that all the teams suited for this type of mission are unavailable." Sai finally spoke for the first time after greeting Naruto.

"The notion that a member of this group being in an Administration position has been acknowledged," Tsunade admitted, "But unless I send them all to Interrogation it'll be impossible to catch them on this end."

"Don't worry about it!" Naruto exclaimed with a challenging smile. "We'll catch them and bring them back so you can find out who's the traitor before you can get drunk again!"

Tsunade scowled deeply and glared at the younger blonde, before the expression cracked and a wary smile took it's place. "I hope you do Naruto, this is giving me a headache." Tsunade began to roll up the scroll on her desk and flipped the catch closed, before handing it over to Sakura. "Sakura is in charge of this mission-- Don't complain Naruto, you're still a Genin." Tsunade interrupted Naruto before he even opened his mouth. "The caravan leaves in the morning from the main gate, be prepared and ready to leave before five. You're dismissed."

Naruto sulked lightly but turned away and turned to leave along with his teammates. He paused at the door for a moment before turning back and staring Tsunade directly in the eye.

"Old hag," Naruto murmured under his breath.

Tsunade's left eye twitched and she moved to stand up.

Naruto was already out the door.

* * *

They had travelled for a while, from the sun's rise to it's fall. The caravan had stopped the moment the sun dropped from the horizon and darkness took the land. They had made camp just off the road; some had set up tents, others had simply brought out sleeping bags, and a few select decided that it would be best to sleep on the carts.

Team Seven chose to dig out their sleeping bags and setup a fire just outside of the main site, well within range of sight, but just out of the vague chatter that the majority made. Sai was sitting a top his sleeping bag with brush and paper in hand. Sakura was laying down on top of her sleeping bag, kicking the air absently as she watched her blonde teammate.

Naruto was busily chopping up wood into manageable pieces with his kunai. The edge, that normally wouldn't have been sharp enough to hack through the wood was slicing through with a lot less trouble then one would have expected.

"You've improved using your chakra," Sakura said with approval in her voice. "Before you left you weren't nearly that good with chakra control."

Naruto turned his head and grinned at Sakura, blindly making another cut at the large branch in his hand.

"Keep your eyes on what you're doing!" Sakura snapped, causing Naruto to almost cut himself by accident. Sakura let out an aggravated sigh and stopped kicking her legs. "Jeez, Naruto you could cut your hand off if you don't pay attention."

"He could grow a new one, or you could reattach it," Sai offered with a smile.

Naruto frowned at his two teammates and hacked apart the last of the tree branch. "It's my chakra, why would it hurt me?" Naruto asked with a thoughtful frown as he stared down at the Kunai.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "Better to be safe then sorry."

Naruto absently pocketed the kunai in hand and picked up the pieces of wood, before walking to the middle of the campsite, where a small pit had been dug up. He dropped the pile of wood into the hole and slumped down against his sleeping bag. He reached over to his knapsack and rummaged around for a few minutes, before pulling out a bundle of tags.

"Explosive tags?" Sakura murmured, her eyes widening. "You aren--" she began to say alarmed.

"Nah." Naruto shook his head, "These are fire starter tags," he explained as he pulled one from the stack. He funnelled a small amount of chakra into the tag, scrunched it up and then threw it in the hole. A few seconds later the pit erupted into a miniature fireball. After a few more it died down into a smouldering fire, a bit strong but otherwise acceptable.

The trio fell into silence. After a few minutes it was broken with a question from Sakura.

"Where did you buy them?"

"I made them," Naruto explained with a smile, "I learned how from Ero-sennin before he... you know," Naruto finished uncomfortably, his smile dwindling away. He shook his head and smiled at Sakura again. "You can make all kind's of stuff with seals, like storage scrolls explosive tags, he even taught me some seals that you place on weapons to make them more conductive to chakra."

"Like the kunai you were using?"

Naruto nodded with a grin. "Impressed?"

Sakura laughed lightly and nodded with a smile.

"I can make explosive tags also," Sai offered, smiling at both his teammates, neither of which paid attention as they continued to smile at each other.

Sai's smile remained as he turned to Sakura specifically and spoke, "Would you mind if I drew you naked?"

"I'll break your legs," Sakura said sweetly, not taking her eyes off of Naruto.

Naruto's smile flickered. "Why would you do that?" Naruto asked, startled.

An irritated expression overcame Sakura's features, "Not you idiot, I was talking to Sai!"

"Oh," Naruto said blankly, before smiling again. "Why were you looking at me then?"

"Because we were having amo- never mind," Sakura huffed and turned away from Naruto.

The fire crackled in the following silence. Streams of moonlight filtered through the canopy up above.

"Hey... Naruto, you heard about all the missing in that have had their bounties collected, haven't you?" Sakura asked softly, still looking away from Naruto.

"Yeah," Naruto murmured as he stared into the fire. "The guy at the gate told me when I arrived."

The fire crackled again. In the distance two men could be heard having a heated argument.

"Do you think...."

"Sasuke's too strong to get killed by any random bounty hunter," Naruto said fiercely before turning to Sakura.

Sakura looked back to Naruto, her eyes dull with worry.

Naruto smiled at his teammate.

"I told you, didn't I? I'm the one that will bring Sasuke back." Naruto grinned at his teammate.

Slowly but surely it was returned in the form of a smile.

"Thank you, Naruto." Sakura rested her head on top of her arms and faced the fire again. "I think it'd be nice for us to be together, like old times."

Naruto held his silence and looked back to the fire.

* * *

Despite Sakura's insistence that Naruto walk the way to Suna, Naruto eventually found himself on the back of one of the carts catching some shut eye-- Sakura none the wiser for it with a quick Kage Bunshin. They were in the general area of where the ambushes were taking place, so in Naruto's opinion, it would be better to be rested and ready.

Sai had apparently agreed with his idea. In the cart besides his, Sai was sitting with his back to a stack of bags filled with grain. He held brush in one hand and a scroll in the other. He was painting without a care in the world. He hadn't elected to use a decoy apparently. Most likely because he was on the opposite side of the caravan to Sakura and wasn't in a direct line of sight.

Against Sakura's orders he had sent out a few more Kage Bunshin, disguised as various small animals-- birds mostly, squirrels jumping from branch to branch would no doubt attract attention, birds flying from tree to tree-- or without any trees were natural. Technically it wasn't very natural to see a bird flying from tree to tree instead of just gliding over the canopy.

Naruto shook the tangent from his mind and focused on the inside of his eyelids. He knew that the more he tried to get to sleep the more likely it was that they would be attacked by sheer coincidence, but it didn't stop him from enjoying the inside of his eyelids any less.

"We're under attack!" A man's muffled shout came from the front of the caravan.

Naruto grimaced; he had jinxed himself.

"Naruto defends the sides, Sai take the front, and I'll cover the rear!" What had been a slow ambling start quickly became a frantic rush to detach himself from the caravan as quickly as possible. Naruto rolled from the back of the wagon onto his feet and broke out into a sprint around the corner of the caravan. He caught Sakura's eyes as he passed her for a moment. She had glared at him accusingly.

Naruto winced on the inside and by habit brought his hands together into a seal, without so much as an utter of the jutsu name over three dozen bodies phased into existence through a wispy haze of smoke. the clones immediately rushed to the sides of the caravan. Within moments some had been cut down and destroyed as the enemy appeared, the rest were fortunate enough to quickly gain the upper hand by numbers.

Naruto kicked off of the ground and landed on top of the middle wagon of the caravan. He quickly surveyed the field around him; Civilian traders running to hide, his clones fighting and being dispersed, Ink lions pouncing on some masked bandits and mauling them, Sakura smacking people away with a tree--

Naruto blinked in muted surprise.

Moments later a quick Shadow-Clone given injection of knowledge made itself known to him and he lunged to the side, avoiding an arrow that would have struck his spinal column. Naruto spun around and unravelled a scroll. His hand slid over the ink designs on it and a low yield explosion of smoke clouded view for a moment.

But the moment was enough, out of the smoke a large shurriken flew out towards the Bowman. It struck true in the man's shoulder slicing through flesh and bone, almost detaching the man's shoulder. Naruto paid no heed to the scream of pain as he turned his focus back to the battle and his rapidly diminishing horde of clones.

More quickly appeared in the place of the fallen and with the added knowledge of where the attackers were immediately retaliated.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted over the rest of the noise, "Focus on protecting the caravan!"

"Gotcha!" Naruto shouted back.

More clones were brought into existence, and this time took up position around the caravan, almost immediately some were dispelled by attacks that had been aimed at the personnel. An Ink Lion dashed past Naruto's vision and sunk it's fangs and claws into a bandit that was making a charge for the front of the caravan.

The massacre- there was no way it could have been a battle, that would have required some resistance from the bandits- ended within minutes. Naruto was happy to note that he had the highest body count out of his team, Sakura came a close second, only five less, and Sai a distant third with ten to his count.

Naruto's clones had taken to dragging the unconscious bodies of the ambushers to a spot and piling them on top of each other. Sakura and Sai were talking quietly, giving the occasional glance to the bandits. Naruto couldn't be bothered to move from his position on top of the wagon he had landed on at the beginning. He could hazard a guess at what Sakura and Sai were talking about; What to do with them.

They still had to interrogate a few, and even then they'd have to take them back to Konoha for Ibiki to get his teeth into, which meant that they'd have to leave the caravan; It wouldn't be smart to take the prisoners all the way to Suna and then all the way back to Konoha.

There was probably a small measure of political business as well, not that Naruto could be bothered to care about it. He was already mulling over a small plan for how to deal with the upcoming situation. His plan however did not get far before its creation was interrupted by Sakura.

His pink haired teammate approached with an uneasy smile.

"Naruto?" Sakura inquired, "Were you listening?"

Naruto shook his head with an apologetic smile. "Nah, Sakura-chan," he answered easily, pointedly ignoring the light glare that the kunoichi gave him.

Sakura huffed lightly, but she quickly returned to a pleasant demeanour. "Well, we need to take some of the prisoners back to Konoha, but we still need to protect the caravan until it gets to Suna so...."

"You need someone to stay with the caravan while you take them back to Konoha, right?" Naruto answered with a smile.

Sakura blinked, and nodded mutely.

Naruto grinned at his long time teammate. "No problem Sakura-chan! I can handle it by myself."

Sakura nodded thankfully, before pausing. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

An expression of irritation briefly clouded Naruto's face. "Of course!" Naruto pouted lightly. "I could do it with my eyes closed." Naruto slipped down off of the caravan to the ground and landed in front of Sakura. He gave his clothes a quick brush down and grinned at Sakura.

Sakura smiled at Naruto's reaction and nodded again, she hesitated for a moment before stepping forward and giving Naruto a brief hug. As she stepped back Naruto gave her a peculiar look. Sakura reacted instantly and huffed. "What I can't worry about my teammate?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave a chuckle. "I'm not a little kid anymore, you know?"

Sakura's expression softened and a measure of comfortable silence developed between them.

"I have finished preparing the prisoners for transportation," Sai called out from the back of the caravan.

Sakura's left eye twitched.

Instinctively Naruto took a step back.

Sakura started shaking with suppressed anger before it quickly dispersed and a concerned look overcame Sakura. "No, I- Not at you-" she protested before she gritted her teeth together and sent a withering glare at Sai, who seemed oblivious to the girls anger. "Sai...." she growled out and stomped towards the source of her ire.

Naruto sent a bemused look after his teammate.

"Ready to depart" a voice called from behind Naruto, catching him by surprise.

"See you later, Sakura-chan! Sai!" Naruto called out waving.

Sakura spun around, forgetting Sai momentarily. She smiled at Naruto, a bit forcedly and waved back. "Come home soon!" She called out. Behind her Sai was smiling and waving at Naruto.

Naruto grinned and turned away from his teammates, moving back to the middle of the caravan.

* * *

Travelling normally it would take about two days to reach Suna with constant travel. As a ninja Naruto was capable of that. However, the journey was lengthened almost unbearably as a civilian. It had been almost an entire week and Suna wasn't anywhere in sight, and worse yet, they were in the desert.

The sun, the sand, and the sun. Thankfully with the Caravan came a large supply of water—an entire wagon solely for the purpose. Well, technically It was part of the trade—but hey, what Suna didn't know wouldn't hurt them, and it'd make Naruto more comfortable. Naruto also had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't the only one taking liberties with the merchandise.

Though it wasn't within the missions parameters, Naruto couldn't help but feel for the caravan. He was able to at least lighten the burden on them using Kage Bunshin, the environment was still a problem, but if he could alleviate the strain even a little bit it was worth it. Truth be told it also, if Naruto's guesimation was correct, sped up travel time.

At first, Naruto wasn't even sure that his eyes were working correctly. It was only a spec on the horizon, barely anything more than a small distortion in the distance, But as time ticked on it grew slowly bigger, and bigger until Naruto was sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.

Naruto couldn't help but let out a shout of cheer as Suna's massive wall began to loom in the distance. Beside him one of the gruffer members of the caravan gave a small startle. Naruto grinned apologetically and scratched the back of his head; the man had apparently been asleep.

Naruto slid off of the wagon he was on, not missing a beat as his feet hit the ground and quickly carried him out of the caravans path. Naruto glanced at the Kage bunshin that was pulling the cart. It was sweating profusely, though a look of determination remained set on its face. The clone met the originals eyes for a moment and gave a sharp nod and grinned in triumph.

Naruto's expression broke out into a wide grin as he turned back to the distant capitol and broke out into a run.

Cries of annoyance and surprise echoed from the caravan, but were quickly lost to the wind as Naruto ran, his feet barely sinking into the sand before they picked up and pushed further. Naruto didn't really have much of a care for the caravan now. At worse case his clones would dispel themselves and the original movers would have to take over.

Compared to the time it took to make it as far as the caravan had, in mere moments the gates of Suna loomed overhead, the sandy texture so consistent with the sand around it sparkled mildly reflecting the sun from its descending path through the sky.

Naruto came to a halt two dozen meters from the gates.

"Identify yourself." A voice called out from the top of the gate.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto brought his hands to his mouth and shouted back.

"Show your identification papers." The voice called back.

Naruto blinked and reached with minor dread to his back. He let out a nervous chuckle. He had left his pack and everything else on the wagon he had been lazing around on.

"I forgot them on the caravan!" Naruto shouted back. "It'll be along in a…" Naruto faltered and turned around to face the way he had come.

Sand and heat distortion met his eyes; the caravan wasn't even a spec on the horizon yet. Naruto turned back around and shouted a request. "Can you just get Gaara for me, he'll sort this out!"

"The Kazekage is busy," the voice answered shortly. "If you cannot supply identification any attempt to enter the city will be met with deadly force." The person speaking paused for a moment before continuing. "If you will submit to restraints we will be able to take you to the Kazekage."

"Jeez, do I have to?" Naruto shouted back in complaint, before hesitating and taking a moment to consider it. "I'll be taken straight to Gaara?" Naruto yelled a question back.

"You will be taken directly to the Kazekage." The Guard confirmed.

"Alright," Naruto called back, "Just hurry up its too hot out here!"

"Don't make any sudden movements." The Guard warned and from the top of the gate a sierra blurr jumped from on high and landed a few feet in front of Naruto with a slight thump and a small spray of sand. The figure straightened up and faced Naruto. They were decked out in Suna's familiar garb from head to toe, not a single bit of flesh was exposed beyond their eyes. It was a man, a bit bigger then Naruto, with a few circles of rope in hand.

"Hands," the man ordered without a moment of hesitation.

Naruto sighed and held his hands out together.

The man immediately went to work binding Naruto's hands together firmly.

Naruto patiently waited for the man to finish before testing the newly woven bonds on his hands and wrists, as expected he could scarcely move a muscle. He watched as the man turned around and signalled to the gate. After a few seconds the massive gate at the front of the Sand-city began to creep open.

"Come on," The man turned away from Naruto and began walking back to the gate.

Naruto followed obediently., but couldn't help but make a quip. "You know," he began, "If I really wanted to escape, these wouldn't do much to stop me."

The man gave a hearty laugh and turned around, smacking Naruto on the shoulder good-naturedly. "Procedure and all, you know, no hard feelings, right kid?" Under the face mask Naruto was fairly sure that the man was grinning.

Naruto returned the grin with a laugh as well.

"Besides, If you tried to escape we'd cut your legs off." The man added conversationally.

Naruto's step faltered for a moment and the man let out another bellow of a laugh. Naruto at that point decided to hold relative silence until they reached the Tower in the middle of the city. Once inside the city the titanic doors creaked closed behind them sealing themselves as if there was nothing more than a solid wall behind them.

Suna was just as Naruto remembered it; Mono-coloured. It still had a certain sense of … something to it, which Naruto couldn't find anywhere else. It might have been the heat, or maybe the buildings, or the people—probably the heat. The cities walls did a good job of cloaking the city from the sun except during midday to noon, and after the sun set the city became cold, cold enough that on last time he had been able to stay in the city overnight he had been surprised to wake up in the early morning and find that the little moisture in the air had turned to ice upon the walls.

"So," the man began again 'conversationally'. "What brings you to Suna without your papers? Run away from your village?" the man joked.

"I have my papers," Naruto insisted. "I just left them on the caravan." Naruto's nose twitched, he reached up to scratch it with his hands, but had little lucky with the rough rope that felt more like he had torn the skin off of it.

"Caravan?" the man echoed blankly, before a brief flash of recollection hit him. "That's right, a caravan from Konoha was supposed to arrive today." The man turned back to look at Naruto. "Why are you here if the caravan isn't?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, pointedly ignoring the looks the people in the streets gave him as they walked towards the Kazekage's tower. "I ran ahead."

"Really?" the Guard asked with an amount of sarcasm in his voice, "I never would have guessed."

They arrived at the Kazekage's tower not too long afterwards. After a few stops by some desks on the way up, Naruto was outside of Gaara's office.

Naruto grinned to himself as the Guard knocked on the door.

A few moments of silence passed before a cold emotionless voice answered. "Enter."

The Guard pushed open the door and motioned for Naruto to enter.

Naruto did so with a grin on his face.

"Gaara!" Naruto greeted happily, only for his smile to falter midway. There was no Gaara in sight, only a desk with large stacks of paper obscuring the man behind it from view.

"This man was caught trying to enter from the main gate without identification papers, he says—" The Guard began to explain before Gaara's cold voice overrode him.

"Standard procedure is to detain all suspected ninja for three days for processing." Gaara stated coldly.

The Guard seemed to be flustered for a moment. "But—"

A wave of killing intent washed over the room causing whatever the Guard was going to say to die on his lips.

"You heard him kid." The Guard managed to say after a few moments with a shrug of his shoulders.

"But—hey—Wait—Gaara!" Naruto fumbled with his words before calling out Naruto's name again. "Pay attention dammit!"

There was stillness in the room. The sound of a chair scraping against the ground momentarily was heard before a head of red hair and an emotionless face rose up above from behind the stacks of paper. Cold green eyes stared across at Naruto, expressionlessly.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara greeted in his usual manner.

Naruto relaxed and grinned at his friend. "You had me going there for a se—"

The redheaded Kazekage turned to the Guard next to Naruto. "I believe I made myself clear on this matter."

Naruto blinked.

It took a few moments for his mind to process what Gaara said. "Hey—Hey—Wait—Gaara-Dammit!" Naruto raged, even as the Guard beside him took hold of Naruto by the back of his shirt and began to drag him out of the room.

Naruto immediately began to struggle against the man dragging him, and moments later he was overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of three masked ninja. It took Naruto as much time as it took them to completely restrain him that they were Gaara's personal guard.

"Kanabashi no jutsu." Was the last thing Naruto heard before he his body froze, and soon after his mind went blank.

Naruto didn't know when he woke up.

One moment he was asleep and the next—he wasn't exactly sure when, but the next he was staring at the blackened ceiling of a prison cell.

"About time you woke up," A gruff, but familiar voice snapped."

It took Naruto a few moments to gather up the determination to be bothered looking for the source. Naruto sat up and turned his head around, instinctively his eyes were drawn to the outside of the cell, where light was filtering in through the bars, and on the other side a single person sat on a stool.

Someone he hadn't expected to see.

"Make-up guy?" Naruto blurted out in surprise.

"it's Kankuro! My name is Kankuro! We go through this every time!" Gaara's older brother all but shouted back into the cell.

Naruto winced and clasped his ears. "Ow, that hurts, you ass!" Naruto snapped back, before blinking and brining his hands in front of his face; He had been untied?

"Yeah, whatever," the puppet user grumbled. "Look, I don't have to be here so watch your mouth, Uzumaki."

Naruto turned to face the makeup wearing ninja with a small amount of surprise on his face. "What are you doing here?"

Kankuro shrugged his shoulders. "A little birdie told me that someone interrupted Gaara's paperwork and got sent to jail. He also told me that the guys name was Uzumaki."

Naruto frowned and folded his arms across his chest nodding. "yeah, what was with that? I greeted Gaara and he sent me to jail!"

Kankuro gave Naruto a funny look. "You interrupted him while he was doing his paperwork, how'd you think he was going to react?"

"grateful to be distracted from it," Naruto answered instantly. "Baa-chan is always happy when I give her a reason to ignore the paperwork."

Naruto blinked and brightened up quickly. "Are you here to get me out of this place?" he asked excitedly.

Kankuro gave a short bark of a laugh. "No can do Uzumaki, Gaara sent you here and not even his brother can override the Kazekage's orders."

Naruto quickly deflated.

"I did, however," Kankuro continued, "Bring you something to eat."

The Black-clad ninja held up a sealed plastic bowl and tapped on it with his other hand.

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Is that…?" he asked quietly, his eyes never leaving the white-plastic bowl, tainted darker by the contents.

"Miso."

Naruto swallowed.

"And it's yours…"

Naruto's face broke out into a smile.

"If, you do me a favour."

Naruto's smile faltered, but his eyes never left the container. "What kind of favour?"

Kankuro smiled in satisfaction and placed the container on the ground in front of the bars and pushed it through the rectangular hole at the bottom of the bars.

Naruto moved forwards and collected it instantly. He peeled off the lid and an expression of elation passed over his face as the aroma of the Ramen hit him. He licked his lips and—

"I need—"

A pair of chopsticks smacked Naruto on the face.

"Chopsticks," Naruto said brightly ignoring the throw and peeled back the paper cover of the chopsticks.

Kankuro watched in mild fascination as Naruto began to inhale the food in front of him.

"Any…" his words trailed off as he watched Naruto, he cleared his voice. "Anyway, as I was saying, a favour."

Naruto nodded, not stopping for a moment.

"You see, me and my sister don't get a long real well. But we're relatives, you know?" Kankuro began his explanation, diverting his eyes from Naruto to the wall behind him. "So I can't really do anything, because it'd be going too far, and it'd start a big fight between us right?

A week ago she decided that it'd be a great idea to trade my," he spat the last word out. "Maintenance tools so she could buy some varnish for her fan."

"What do you want me to do?" Naruto asked as he dropped the chopsticks in his hand to the ground, and a moment later brought the bowl up to his lips and began to drain the soup base of the Ramen.

"Go to her place, steal some of her panties and hand them from the front gates." Kankuro answered firmly.

Naruto gave off a harsh cough as the soup slipped down the wrong hole in his surprise. "W-what?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"You heard me." Kankuro huffed. "You ate the ramen so it's a deal right? Embarrass her for me and we're square."

"But that's—" Naruto frowned.

"Look," Kankuro began exasperated. "I'm her brother so I can't do it myself, but you're not related to her, see? And you don't live in the village so she can't get revenge on you if you aren't here."

"It's still a perverted thing to do." Naruto stated flatly, giving Kankuro a peculiar look, before, despite himself he brought the bowl to his lips and drained the last of the ramen.

"I'll even sweeten the deal," Kankuro offered. "I'll get you out of here today."

Naruto blinked and immediately became suspicious. "But you said you couldn't because of Gaara."

Kankuro shrugged his shoulders. "Who's to say it's my fault? Who's to say you didn't escape on your own? These aren't really high quality cells you know? Besides a few chakra restrictions seals they're pretty much just steel and stone."

Naruto drummed his fingers on the floor beside him as he considered Kankuro's offer. "You won't tell her about it?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"My lips are sealed," Kankuro affirmed in a serious voice.

"Okay!" Naruto exclaimed, slapping his hands to his knees and hopping up off the floor in the next movement. He grinned at the ninja in front of him. "Get me Out of here Makeup-guy!"

"Kankuro!" Kankuro shouted, "My name is Kankuro! Get it right dammit!"


	14. Faceless: Fifth Kill P1

**Story: Faceless**

* * *

Information was hard to find sometimes. Other times it was laid out in front of you with a pretty ribbon tied to it. The woman in front of Naruto had a pretty pink bow in her hair. But the information she had wasn't.

"Half." The woman insisted with an alluring smile. "Up front before you leave."

"Go fuck yourself," Naruto grunted out as he dropped his mug onto the table. It rattled for a few moments before coming to a stop. "I'll give you a quarter _after_ I collect the bounty."

None of the other customers of the brothel seemed to care, or perhaps they did, and just didn't want to get involved.

The dark haired woman pouted. "Don't be that way Naru-chan, you know I have good information." She licked her lips and leant forwards against the table, revealing a nice amount of cleavage. "And when you get back you can tell me _all_ about it." She purred out.

Naruto snorted again. "And then get charged for it, yeah no thanks."

The two matched stares.

"Why the sudden change?" Naruto asked slowly. "Before now you've always been reasonable, Suisen."

The Suisen shrugged her shoulders and brought her sake dish up to her lips. "A girl has to watch out for her own interests." Naruto couldn't help but notice the things the motion did to certain areas, not that he'd ever tell her that.

"Half afterwards," Naruto said quietly, breaking gazes with the woman.

"Thank you," Suisen said softly, reaching across the table for Naruto's hand.

She didn't manage to catch it as Naruto withdrew his hands from reach.

"Just tell me what I want to know," Naruto muttered coldly.

Suisen nodded slowly before pulling her hand back and composing herself. "Your target is travelling along the border of the Fire Country, making their way towards Rice Country, I'm not sure why--"

"Oto is located here," Naruto muttered under his breath. "And unless I'm mistaken, they're still feuding over who the new leader should be." Naruto shook his head mirthlessly.

Suisen looked on, interest blatant in her eyes, "Go on," she murmured curiously.

"You scratch my back I'll scratch yours," Naruto shot back.

Suisen's eyes widened with excitement.

"Not that way, pervert," Naruto said with a scowl as he picked up his mug and drained the contents. "I'm not giving you information for free unless you extend me the same courtesy."

"Don't be that way, Naru-chan," Suisen complained, pouting cutely and folding her arms across her chest, or would it be under her breasts?

"What else do you have for me?" Naruto demanded to know as he placed the mug back down on the table, this time with some care.

Suisen blinked calmly, before smiling and extending a single dainty hand towards Naruto. "Not here," she insisted.

Naruto stared at the offered hand for a few seconds before acquiescing and taking it with his own. Suisen tugged on his hand lightly and began to lead him away from the main area to the more 'private' sections. Naruto didn't even bat an eyelash when they passed an open room, and he got an eyeful of a young fit woman servicing an older more unfit man. Though internally he was gouging his eyes out.

"Here we are!" Suisen said as she pulled open the doors to the last of the rooms and motioned for Naruto to enter.

Naruto stepped through the bamboo door and was hit with the heady scent of incense.

"Please sit down on the cushions," Suisen gestured towards one of the corners of the room, where cushions had been piled up and around into a comfortably looking layabout. Suisen walked ahead and sat herself down at the corner of the setup in an almost elegant manner, she smoothed the kimono she wore and gestured for Naruto to come again.

Naruto calmly walked to the cushions and unceremoniously plopped down onto them.

"Talk," Naruto insisted as he folded his arms across his chest.

"All in due time," Suisen insisted, before tilting her head to the side, "Do you like the incense? I lit it specifically for you."

"Yeah it's nice," Naruto muttered, it really was. Naruto could feel himself relaxing as tension he hadn't even been aware was there was released. "Just get on with it," Naruto requested.

"Bikko Yatsu of Suna, on the run since he killed his immediate family in a fit of rage, cause unknown." Suisen said as she brushed invisible secs of dust off of her lap. "Talents lie in the range of ninjutsu and taijutsu, genjutsu as of known is negligible."

Naruto nodded, he had known that much already.

"What was left out of the official report," Suisen smiled a secretive sort of smile, "But was widely known to most high ranking officials, was that three of Suna's special forces were crippled or otherwise maimed in an attempt to catch Yatsu."

"And that was left out because?" Naruto asked quietly as he brought a hand up to his head and rubbed his eye lightly.

Suisen's eyes sparkled with amusement. "It was left out of the official report because it was deemed to be useless information."

"Of course," Naruto said sarcastically, "Knowing that this guy took out a few high ranking ninja means absolutely nothing."

Suisen's smile widened. "Can you guess what Suna has chosen to do regarding his capture?"

Naruto snorted lightly. "Let the other village's specials deal with it." A light frown overcame Naruto's lips. "The Kazekage wouldn't have approved of this."

Suisen blinked. "Oh?"

"I know Gaara," Naruto admitted, "He isn't the kinda guy who would do something under handed like this." Naruto frowned thoughtfully. "One of his underlings might, you know, try and weaken the other villages by having them hunt after a guy who is stronger then has been listed."

"Is that why you wanted your money up front?" Naruto asked bluntly. "Because you thought I'd get killed?"

Suisen did the unexpected. She laughed. It wasn't a fullblown in your face laugh, just a small tinkling of a laugh. "The reason I wanted to be paid up front, was because you would be gone for a long time," Suisen admonished Naruto, who had the decency to look embaressed.

"Oh," Naruto uttered numbly. "Sorry?"

Suisen smiled amusedly, "Silly boy, come here." she reached across and clasped Naruto's hands, pulling him closer to her. She forced his head down on her lap and gently stroked the top of his head.

"I shoul--" Naruto began to say as he tried to get up.

"Shh," Suisen whispered into Naruto's ear. "Just relax, one nights sleep won't put you out of reach of him, so just lay here with me."

"You drugged me," Naruto remarked quietly into Suisen's lap.

"I did," Suisen admitted. "But it was for your own good."

"Liar," Naruto mumbled.

Suisen didn't answer, she just kept stroking his head.

"Can I get more sake?"


	15. Uzumaki Apprentice: Chapter 1

**Story: Uzumaki Apprentice**

* * *

Naruto sighed tiredly as he watched the object of his annoyance chase after the Fire Daimyo's Wife's cat for the tenth time in as many days. It wasn't the same subject from Naruto's own Genin days; the insufferable pest had long since been stuffed into the ground. No, this was an all new menace for an all new generation, Naruto mused.

For all his misgivings Naruto wouldn't have traded places with anyone in the world. All was right in the world, and all that junk. Konoha's enemies lay buried deep in the ground, and the age of Ninja was quickly approaching its end. If the world continued to evolve the way it had during the past thirteen years, then the young black haired girl growling in front of Naruto would be part of the last generation of a dying culture.

Uchiha Makoto was the only daughter of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, now known as Uchiha Sakura. She had inherited her father's genes quite thoroughly; black hair, black eyes, pale skin, and all. There were few visible traces of her mother in her. When asked though, Sakura would insist that the young Uchiha had inherited her chakra control.

Makoto was short for her age group, standing an inch or two below the average height. Her hair was in most cases tied into two ponytails with white ribbons, part of a gift from Naruto, her godfather for her seventh birthday. The actual gift had consisted of a dress and a pair of cat ears, the ribbons had been part of the packaging the gift had come in. To Naruto's dismay, she had preferred the ribbons on the box over the outfit itself. On the few glimpses he had into Makoto's austere bedroom in the following years though, he couldn't help but notice that the cat ears were still among the few items she left out.

On the rare occasions that Makoto let her hair down, the ribbons remained a part of her hairdo, braided through her left bang. Despite their constant use, the twin ribbons remained in remarkable condition. It probably helped that Makoto was a genjutsu-oriented instead of a ninjutsu junky like both her father and godfather.

To Sasuke's displeasure his daughter had taken after her godfather in the attitude department.

The young girl in front of Naruto could very well be the last of her family to be trained in the ninja arts. Officially at least, Naruto doubted that the girl's father would allow his family's profession to die so easily. Not that he'd allow it to happen. As far as Naruto was concerned, his nindo still held true.

It didn't help that the young Genin had perverted it by insisting on completing the same mission over and over again. It was Naruto's own fault, really. He had allowed his student to pick any mission that she wanted, provided that Naruto acknowledged that she was capable of succeeding.

Really, she couldn't have expected him to allow her to go on a B rank mission five months out of the Academy, even if she insisted that she was ready. It hadn't helped much that she had been trained by her father since she was old enough to walk, and for all intents and purposes had the skills for such a mission. Naruto, however, still held onto his conviction that she still lacked the practical experience.

For that, he was suffering.

He couldn't simply revoke the privilege from her. That would be giving in, admitting that his resolve was weaker then hers. No, he'd endure. But should her father find out? Naruto grinned to himself. Then she'd wish she had gone with his way all along.

After all, Sasuke could be a downright bastard when he wanted to be, not to mention Sakura could be an A-grade bitch herself.

"I have contained the target."

Naruto sighed as the voice of his goddaughter crackled into his earpiece. He reached up and lightly pressed a button on its side, activating the relay capability. "Yes, I'm aware, I _can_ see you. Is there any reason you're using the comm?"

"Because it's fun." Makoto replied mockingly.

"Roger that." Naruto could understand the sentiment and despite his feud with the twin-tailed girl, went along with it. "Has the cat been properly subdued?"

"Of course." came the 'innocent' reply, along with a saccharine smile as Makoto approached him, a struggling white cat in her arms. Naruto noted that it wasn't so much struggling against its captor as much as something else. If Naruto hadn't known better he could have sworn...

"Did you use your genjutsu on the cat?" Naruto asked flatly.

A nervous grin was his answer.

"I might have used a _minor_," she stressed the word. "Illusion to capture it."

For a moment, Naruto retained his stoic expression, before it cracked and revealed an amused smile.

"Good call," Naruto praised as he reached down to the shorter girls head and ruffled her hair, or tried to at least. He hadn't managed to do much, seeing as it was tightly bound into two ponytails. Makoto smiled brightly at the action, and didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, she seemed pleased.

Naruto smiled down at the dark haired girl for a moment before reaching up to his breast pocket and unclipping the top of one of the scrolls. He thumbed the edge of the scroll and extracted a thin slip of paper with a series of characters inscribed onto it. He spread it out between his fingers and gently pressed the backside of the tag against the feline's forehead, sending a small burst of chakra into the cat. It fell silent, a now blank piece of paper adhered to its skull.

Makoto hummed to herself as she pushed the cat Into Naruto's hands and dusted strands of cat hair off of her hands. Naruto stared down dispassionately at the sleeping cat in his hands before grimacing and setting it down, and making himself comfortable.

"So!" Makoto exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Do you want to head home now? I want to get home and train. There's a new genjutsu I want to try out!"

Naruto smiled bemusedly at the girl's enthusiasm. Truthfully, he'd rather not go back to Konoha just yet. He was in no rush to be the test subject of Makoto's newest genjutsu. It wasn't that he didn't want to help her exactly, quite the opposite; there were still only so many times you could allow someone to unfettered access to your mind before it began to become disconcerting, especially when they were on a trial-and-error basis to determine best method for freaking you the fuck out.

Naruto was almost willing to concede and request a B ranked mission: the key word being almost. "Alright, let's head home," Naruto grinned. "If you're a good girl on the way back I'll treat you to some ramen, alright?"

Makoto gave a superior laugh. "No way, when we get back I'm treating _you_ to ramen, Naruto-sensei!"

Naruto grinned. "Is that so?"

Makoto paused for a moment and considered what she had said, before viciously shaking her head from side to side. "No, no, I mean, you can treat me all you want." Makoto reached to the back of her head and scratched nervously, laughing tentatively.

Naruto's expression softened and he chuckled. "Let's head back to Konoha then." He gestured for the younger girl to follow, and a moment later kicked off the ground. Makoto didn't miss a beat and within seconds was beside Naruto, keeping up with his pace.

"This is fun, isn't it? Makoto asked after a few minutes of silence. "Spending time together like this."

"As fun as hunting down this damn cat can be," Naruto acknowledged. He didn't need to spare a glance at his student to know that she was pouting and was about to throw another one of her B-rank hissy-fits.

"Well if you'd just let me go on a B ranked mission it wouldn't be that way, would it?" Makoto complained loudly.

"Genin are only allowed to take D and C rank missions, officially." Naruto paused for effect.

"But, you know," he continued, "My first C rank mission ended up being an A rank mission." He took a moment to glance back at his apprentice. "What I mean to say is, sometimes C rank mission escalate into B and A rank missions."

Naruto's lips quirked up slightly. "Of course, D rank missions have never been known to jump ranks, so while you and I were playing with this pest," he lifted the cat up from under his arm into Makoto's view. "Some other lucky genin squad is probably in the middle of a C-Rank that's turned into a B-Rank."

Makoto's eyes widened in stark realization. "Y-you mean we could have been-"

Naruto grinned victoriously, and for a moment wondered why he hadn't simply told her in the first place. "That's right, we could have been ambushed by enemy ninja already if we had been doing C-Rank missions." Naruto teased his student, briefly taking a glance ahead to correct his path through the tree tops.

"But," Makoto began to protest only to stop at the look that her blond-haired sensei gave her. Black eyes narrowed and their owner fell silent sullenly, before, grinning widely. "When we get back, forget training! Let's go on a C-Rank mission!"

Naruto burst out laughing and returned a grin. "Now you're speaking _my_ language, Makoto-chan!"

"I'll race you!" Makoto shouted to Naruto in challenge before she surged past Naruto and began to rapidly create a gap between them. Naruto momentarily protested before his lips fell into an amused smile. With a burst of chakra through his limbs Naruto lunged forwards after Makoto, careful not to 'accidentally' drop an unconscious cat from his hands.

The rest of the journey passed in a blur. The young Uchiha was too focused on being the first to reach Konoha's gates to talk to Naruto, not that Naruto minded. The occasional lapse in conversation was good for his internal monologues. He made it a point to at times quickly catch up to and pass Makoto, if only to keep her on her toes and push her further. Her stature compared to Sakura was acceptable, but it wasn't anything compared to what both he and Sasuke had been capable of at her age. Though, the comparison was pretty unfair to her. She was neither a Jinchuuriki or as obsessed as Sasuke had been. For all intents and purposes, besides the bloodline and training she had received from her father she was as normal a Kunoichi as possible.

The High and Mighty gates of Konoha appeared just beyond the horizon. Makoto had noticed immediately and increased her speed. Naruto likewise began to move faster. She might have been his goddaughter, but there was no way in hell he was going to lose to her in a race. Naruto quickly managed to overtake Makoto and, after flashing her a grin -to which she literally _snarled_-without pause, halted his movement and swung an arm directly into Makoto's trajectory.

The shorter girl, mid-leap, couldn't react in time, and found herself gasping for air as Naruto's arm hooked around her midriff. Naruto drew upon the momentum the girl had generated and quickly exhausted it with a spin, and threw the shorter girl carelessly over his shoulder and began to casually walk towards the gates of Konoha. He pointedly ignored the struggles Makoto put up as she pound her hands on his back and futilely tried to kick him.

"Put me down!" Makoto protested, "This is embarrassing!"

Naruto just grinned.

* * *

The renovations that Konoha had gone through since the confrontation with Pain had reshaped Konoha into a spectacle to behold. Where Konoha had once been situated on a stable flat chunk of bedrock, with Pain's destructive jutsu, the land was now in shambles. The village had since been rebuilt to fit the contour of the land. This was not to say that Konoha had not reformed the terrain; quite contrarily, Yamoto's Mokuton abilities, a unique combination of Gaara's sand between some of the late Sarutobi Hiruzen's mud techniques, and unflattering amounts of fire, they had been able to stabilize the flow of the land.

Naruto gave a carefree laugh as his feet touched the ground in front of The Uchiha's household, the captive on his shoulder had ceased struggling and protesting, resigning herself to her fate for the moment. Naruto shifted Makoto off of his shoulder and set her down in front of him. His smile widened at the embarrassed look upon her face, compounded by the stark blush on her cheeks.

"Shouldn't we be at the Hokage's tower?" Makoto asked after a moment of silence."You still have to hand in that damned cat, don't you?"

Naruto nodded, "I'm going to go hand in the _kitty_ and then I need to talk to Baa-chan for a bit to straighten some stuff up for tomorrow." The blond haired Jounin squinted his eyes and glanced up at the sky. "It's almost twelve, so meet me at the usual training grounds in around two hours." Naruto looked back down at his student. "Is that enough time for you?"

Makoto narrowed her eyes and sighed, clearly aggravated. She turned around and walked closer to the front door of her house and turned to face Naruto, "Don't make it sound like I'm the one who's never ready Naruto-sensei; I'm ready to go right now!"

A pair of hands went up in defeat, "Ah, you caught me out Makoto-chan, I'm tired from the mission and I need a little rest to recover in time to train you."

Makoto gave Naruto a look of disbelief before declaring; "I don't believe you! You'd better not be late, or else.", reminding Naruto of how her mother used to yell at Kakashi in much the same way.

Naruto dropped his hands down from his form of mock-surrender and smiled at his genin. "No one could stop me from being there for you." Naruto promised.

Makoto grinned and pulled open the door to the Uchiha's house, before entering and closing the door behind her. Without waiting for the door to fully shut Naruto had already initiated his Shunshin technique and, two seconds later was outside of the Hokage's tower in a burst of smoke and a swirl of wind, dispersing the smoke as fast as it had been formed. The red, stained-wood tower stood out in contrast with the rest of the village. It was as it had been prior to Konoha's restoration.

Without much thought Naruto pushed open the doors to the tower and stepped inside. The lobby was fairly empty. Besides the clerks there were less than a dozen loitering people, only one or two with _hitai-ate_, the rest were civilians, or at the very least off duty.

Naruto approached the front desk and smiled down at the operator, a cute brown haired girl named Nanami, if Naruto remembered correctly.

"Good Afternoon, Nanami-chan," Naruto greeted with a wave. He was treated to a bright smile in return.

"Good Afternoon Naruto-san!" Nanami chirped happily before taking a glance down at the sheet in front of her. "You're here to hand the cat in, aren't you?" She pointed to the bundle of fur in Naruto's hand. At the Jounin's nod she herself nodded. "You know where to go, and you don't need me to show you, so is there another reason you're talking to me?" Nanmi's smile widened, showing a set of pearly white teeth.

"Ah, you caught me Nanami-chan," Naruto said with amusement, "How did you manage to find out that I only accept missions so that I can talk to cute girls like you?" he teased. His efforts were rewarded with a brilliant scarlet blush on the clerks cheeks. Said clerk quickly hid her face behind a stack of papers.

Naruto laughed and waved her off, "Talk to you later, Nanami-chan!" Before walking towards the stairs leading to the second, and beyond floors of the tower. The second floor of the tower was his destination. It was the 'Mission Centre' where missions were requested, issued and visited upon completion, whether it be to inform the village that a mission had been completed correctly, or to hand in the item that a mission had specified, or in some rare cases, a person.

The Mission centre had changed from its first incarnation, but not by much. There was still a desk on the side of the room, with various people lined up, some collecting money, some handing money out to ninja. Behind the desk was a wall lined with boxes, and in each box there was a pile of neatly placed the middle of the desk sat a familiar person, who, as they made eye contact with Naruto twitched.

Naruto smiled broadly and approached the Godaime Hokage.

"Baa-chan!" Naruto greeted the blonde haired Hokage happily before flinging the bundle of fur in his arms towards one of the clerks, careful to peel off the seal that was tacked to its forehead as the cat sailed away from his hands. In mid flight the cat came to life. The poor clerk that Naruto had thrown it to was immediately clawed on as the cat landed on his chest.

"Where's the smaller brat?" Tsunade asked in a deadpan, by now accustomed to her secretaries being mauled bay house cat from the sheer number of times Naruto requested the mission.

"Home," Naruto answered before pointing towards the now scratched and bloody secretary. "Mission Accomplished. Can I get a C rank mission that has a high chance of escalating ranks?" Naruto punctuated the request with a winning smile.

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow before she glanced down the listing in front of her. "Any reason why?" she asked in a not-quite detached manner as her eyes flickered down the list, one by one.

Naruto leaned over the desk and twisted his head in an attempt to read the mission listings. A moment later his head snapped backwards and a sharp pain registered on his forehead as Tsunade's finger flicked his forehead.

"Don't be such a brat."

Naruto frowned at the older woman and rubbed his forehead lightly. "That hurt," he protested sourly.

A quirked eyebrow met his statement. "You're a man now, I expect you to be able to handle a small tap like that."

"A small tap that could break someone's arm," Naruto muttered under his breath before, at Tsunade's look brightening up and smiling back at her.

Tsunade sighed before reaching behind to a wall of scrolls and, after a moment of searching pulled out a single blue scroll. She placed it on the desk between her and Naruto before withdrawing her hand.

Naruto peered down at the scroll curiously, before looking back to Tsuande and asking. "What's the mission?"

"Locate and retrieve a stolen painting," Tsunade supplied before leaning back in her chair and smiling.

"What's special about the painting?"

"Nothing," Tsunade answered before after a moment continuing "At least, according to the information they have provided to us."

Naruto's eyebrows rose. "That's pretty special."

Tsunade chuckled. "It really is."

"No special meaning for their family or-"

"Just an ordinary painting." Tsuande repeated. "No ties to the family, or special symbolism, simply a painting."

Naruto folded his arms across his chest. "And it was stolen?"

"Out of everything in the mansion it was the only thing stolen." The Hokage confirmed.

"That's pretty... Interesting." Naruto admitted. "How much are they paying to have it retrieved?"

"A fair bit," Tsunade admitted, "Enough for a B ranked mission, but considering the Information they provided It was determined that it was a C rank mission."

It didn't take Naruto much thought to determine his next words, "I'll take it," he decided before collecting the scroll off of the desk.

Naruto turned away from the Mission Desk and began walking back towards the stairs, he turned his head back to Tsunade and smiled at her. "I'll get this done as soon as possible, and I'll tell you what's special about it, alright Baa-chan?"

He didn't hear her reply, if she even gave one.

Naruto hummed to himself as he walked down the stairs towards the bottom floor of the tower.

"See you next time Nanami-chan!" Naruto waved his hand half heartedly at the cute brown haired clerk, who blushed and refused to look at him-- although that could have been because of the person in front of her, who was speaking to her, before he reached up to the solid wooden door and pulled it open.

Naruto blinked.

Pale Lavendar eyes mimiced the action. Soon afterwards a soft, almost invisible blush registered on pale cheeks. Dark blue, almost black framed a perfectly shaped face. Naruto's eyes couldn't help but flicker down in response to the gentle slope of neck which inevitably ended at a leaf _hitai-ate_. Naruto's almost let his eyes wander further downwards but managed to return his eyes back to the appropriate position.

"Hinata!" Naruto greeted happily, before stepping aside and motioning for her to enter the tower. She followed his directions, stepping inside of the Hokage tower. "Good Afternoon Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly as a affectionate smile appeared on her lips. "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good," Naruto answered with a grin. "How are you, Hinata?"

"I am well," she answered politely. She glanced around momentarily before turning her gaze back to Naruto. "Where is Makoto-chan?"

Naruto blinked. "I told her to go home early to rest up." He explained as he slipped the mission scroll in his hands into one of the many pockets that adorned the front of his vest. "We're going to train in a few hours."

A pleasant, almost adoring smile fluttered into existent on Hinata's lips. "You're a very good sensei, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blinked before his cheeks tinged with a light blush. He reached up and scratched his cheeks, letting a light laugh out. "Thanks."

Naruto paused for a moment before wracking his memory for a name, after a second it came to him.

"How's Hanabi-chan?" Naruto asked grinning. "Still cute as ever?"

Hinata's smile faded slightly, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Do I appear cute to you, Uzumaki?" a demure voice from behind Naruto started him.

Naruto spun around and was immediately greeted by another semi-familiar pair of lavender eyes which startled him.

Over the past ten years Hanabi ahd bloomed from a slip of a girl into an attractive young woman.**

"Hanabi-chan," Naruto greeted with a nervous laugh. "What a… coincidence?"

"I am here for a meeting with one of the clan heads." Hanabi explained calmly, she offered Naruto a calculating look. "Do you have any plans for this evening?" the question itself was innocent enough.

Naruto momentarily reflected inwards, he didn't have any plans to speak of. After finishing up with Makoto's training he'd imagine he'd probably get something to eat- and if trends continued as they had, pay for Makoto's as well, before heading home to sleep. He really didn't have any plans to speak of.

"I don't," Naruto admitted.

Hanabi smiled politely, "Would you like to have dinner with Onee-san and I?"

"I'd be honored, Hyuuga… sama." Naruto added on after a moment of consideration.

Hanabi nodded with a pleased expression on her face. She paused for a moment, and her eyes glided down over the front of Naruto, taking in his appearance, her nose crinkled in, dare Naruto say it? Disgust. "_Please_ wear something appropriate for this occasion, Uzumaki."

She bowed politely. "I look forward to dining with you. Please do not be late."

Naruto blinked slowly. "I won't be," Naruto answered after a moment.

Hanabi turned away and walked towards the stairs, Naruto watched as she ascended them, and soon was out of sight.

"Please do not think badly of her," Hinata said after a moment of silence. She fidgeted momentarily. "since she became head of the Hyuuga clan she's been under more pressure to act more befitting of her position." Hinata's hands drifted towards each other.

Hinata's eyes widened as Naruto's hands firmly grasped her own, stopping them from touching. Naruto smiled unabashedly at Hinata. "It's alright, Hinata-chan, I can understand her." He gave her hands a gentle squeeze and let go. "So don't feel nervous," he chided her, to which she nodded, smiling ever so slightly.

"She still hasn't caught up to your height," Naruto noted with an amused tone. "That must annoy her."

Hinata giggled and nodded.

A moment of pleasant silence followed to which neither Naruto or Hinata cared to break. But soon enough it was.

"I should probably catch up with Haabi-chan." Hinata said with a rueful smile.

Naruto nodded and smiled. "I'll see you tonight then?"

Hinata smiled brightly and nodded. "I look forward to it."

Naruto watched with a smile and silence as Hinata walked past him and followed the same route that Hanabi had taken. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto caught a stare to which he winked. Nanami blushed and ducked her head as Naruto walked out of the Hokage tower, his laughter following behind him.

It was a few hours later, one and a half to be precise, that Naruto found himself waiting at his and Makoto's usual training grounds. He had only been waiting a couple of minutes before a familiar head of black hair appeared in front of him with a bright smile.

* * *

"Right on time!" Makoto exclaimed happily she reached across the distance between herself and Naruto and poked his stomach. "You're too early. Show up late for once."

Naruto gave a bark of a laugh. "And give you reason to complain?" He flicked Makoto's forehead lightly. "I don't think so."

Makoto pouted and rubbed her forehead lightly.

"Ready to begin?" Naruto inquired. His response was an enthusiastic nod.

A moment later Makoto jumped backwards and landed a good five yards away. She immediately settled into a combat stance and a moment later a vision of red blossomed into life within her eyes along with twin tomoe in each eye.

"No Sharingan," Naruto chided Makoto lightly. "That comes later," he reminded her.

The Sharingan in Makoto's eyes faded away without so much as a twitch from her. A moment later she flung herself forward towards Naruto and within a split second Naruto brought his arm up and blocked a vicious kick aimed at his head. Makoto didn't miss a beat as she withdrew her foot and a moment later slammed her fist into Naruto's face, only to grimace as Naruto's palm countered the attack directly.

Soon enough Naruto went on autopilot, every now and then correcting an error Makoto made, whether it be from incorrect positioning or an inappropriate attempt. "Come on Makoto-chan!" Naruto protested, "You're usually much faster then this!"

Makoto tensed for a moment, and her eyes narrowed. A moment later Naruto grunted in surprise and his head snapped to the side as Makoto's foot snapped into his jaw. Naruto jumped away from Makoto and frowned. He absently massaged his jaw, gauging Makoto critcally. His eyes widened in recognition.

"You used a genjutsu," Naruto accused sourly.

Makoto laughed sheepishly, reaching to the back of her head and scratching it lightly. "You caught me," Makoto said.

Naruto concentrated, and a moment later he broke the genjutsu's hold on his nervous system.

"Which one was it?" Naruto asked with a smile. As Makoto opened her mouth to answer Naruto spoke again. "No, wait, don't tell me. It was the Delay?"

Makoto grinned and nodded.

"So that's why you turned on the Sharingan," Naruto murmured under his breath, looking at Makoto appraisingly. "Very sneaky," he praised, before grinning. "You know what this means right?"

A momentary look of confusion passed over Makoto's face before her eyes lit up in understanding, and a moment later horror as Naruto vanished from his stationary position. Makoto lunged to the side, barely avoiding Naruto's hand as it passed over where her head had been. Makoto's head snapped back to Naruto and her Sharingan flared to life within her eyes. A flurry of fists and feet rushed towards Naruto, who, with some small amount of difficulty, managed to block and parry each and every strike.

"You're just making it harder for yourself," Naruto taunted with a grin before lashing out at Makoto with his foot. It came as barely a shock as Makoto slipped beneath it and managed to knock his foot out from under him. Makoto's success was shortlived as Naruto's hand planted itself on the ground, and in a single stroke his foot sweeped into her side.

It was a troublesome thing, fighting against a Sharingan using only taijutsu. There wasn't really any incentive for Naruto to come out on top, besides keeping his pride. If he didn't keep it within a decent hit to miss ratio, and Makoto told her father he'd never hear the end of it. Still, unless he made it a point to Makoto that using the Sharingan wasn't the best way to train she'd keep on using it.

Naruto tensed his muscles for a moment, and then moved.

While Makoto's sharingan may have been able to keep up with him, her body, as agile and flexible as it was, was still unable to react in time.

A sharp yelp of pain erupted from Makoto's throat as a hard calloused hand slapped against her posterior, sending her jumping a few feet into the air from the sheer force of the blow. Makoto crumbled forwards against the grass and whimpered, her hands reaching back and gently covering her backside.

"No Sharingan during Taijutsu practice," Naruto chided the young Uchiha. "That's cheating."

A whimper of embarrassed pain was Naruto's only response along with a minor flinch.

Naruto's expression cracked soon enough and he sighed, before crouching down beside Makoto. "Sorry," he said after a moment of debate, and placed a hand on Makoto's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I overdid it." he admitted.

Makoto eventually turned her head to face him and glared silently, her eyes watering lightly.

Naruto pouted. "Don't give me that look!" Naruto protested, "You were asking for it!"

She continued to glare.

Naruto sighed again. "Fine, how can I make it up to you?"

Makoto's glare remained for a few moments more, before it was gone, and along with it, the Sharingan.

"Well..." Makoto began shakily, averting her eyes from Naruto.

"Well...?" Naruto pressed on lightly.

"You can kiss my ass," Makoto finished. sending Naruto a triumphant look.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, before raising his hand.

Makoto quickly scrambled away, her cheeks blushed pink and sat down on the ground in front of Naruto. Naruto didn't miss the flinch that the girl gave at the action.

Naruto sat in front of his student, crossing his legs. He pulled out the scroll in his pocket and smiled at Makoto before tapping it with his finger. "This is a C rank mission, we're leaving tomorrow morning."

Makoto eyed the scroll with an unreadable look.

"What's the mission?" she asked quietly.

"We're to find and retrieve a missing painting." Naruto explained as he spread the scroll out in front of him.

"That's it?" Makoto said flatly. "I thought you said you'd get a good mission?" she frowned.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "This is a good mission, it's exactly the kind you want."

Makoto's expression became confused. "But.. you said it was a missing painting."

Naruto smiled happily and nodded, "I did, now, come closer and look at how much they're paying for such a simple mission." He flipped the scroll over to allow Makoto to read.

Makoto slipped forwards onto her knees and crawled closer to Naruto, stopping with just enough distance to read the writing on the scroll comfortably. After a few moments Makoto's eyebrows rose. "Wow." she stated. Her eyes flickered past the scroll to Naruto, before moving back again. "So it isn't a simple mission?"

"Doesn't look like it," Naruto agreed with a grin.

After a few moments Makoto returned the grin and brushed Naruto's hands out of the way before slipping forwards into his lap and twisting around until she sat against him, with her back against his chest. " 'cause my butt hurts," Makoto explained before she shifted and got comfortable in Naruto's lap.

"Aren't you getting a bit old to be sitting in my lap?" Naruto asked out loud.

Makoto shook her head, causing Naruto to crinkle his nose as her hair flickered against his nose. "I'll never be too old to sit like this," she declared, before summarily snatching the scroll out of Naruto's hands and reading it.

Naruto blinked, before shrugging his shoulders. "If you say so."

"I do," Makoto insisted as she read the scroll. After a few minutes of reading Makoto finally handed the scroll back to Naruto and leaned back against Naruto's chest. "That didn't say anything about who stole the painting!" Makoto said indignantly, puffing her cheeks out.

"We're going to be meeting the clients tomorrow and getting the details from them directly." Naruto explained, resting his chin on top of Makoto's head. "As far as I am aware they don't know who stole the painting or why, the last part is pretty sketchy."

Makoto hummed her agreement. "Gotta be some reason, or else they wouldn't spend so much money getting it back, right?"

Naruto grinned. "Exactly."

"Where is Otafuku?" Makoto inquired, "Is it far away?"

Naruto shook his head. "It's just over seven and a half miles south east of Konoha." He answered.

Naruto pressed his hands against Makoto's back and gave her a light push off of his lap. Makoto pressed her feet into the ground and stubbornly tried to remain in her spot on Naruto's legs. Naruto gave a small smile before he slipped his hands under Makoto's arms, or atleast tried, Makoto immediately squeezed her arms close to her body and gave a small laugh.

"Fool me once!" Makoto said after a moment.

"Shame on you," Naruto agreed before suddenly exploding in a burst of smoke.

Makoto yelped as her backside hit the ground and, at the ensuing laughter from behind her pouted and turned around, glaring at her blonde haired sensei. "That was cheap," Makoto protested, absently rubbing her posterior.

"All's fair," Naruto insisted tauntingly, before gesturing for Makoto to stand up. "Come on, let's continue."

Makoto stood up and dusted her shorts off, before setting her hands upon her hips and giving Naruto a defiant look.

"We have a mission tomorrow," she stated, before smiling in a sickly sweet way. "Aren't you supposed to rest before a mission?"

Naruto blinked before reaching up and scratching his cheek. "That's true I suppose." He hesitated. "Alright, we'll give it a miss for today, but when we get back," his warned playfully, giving Makoto look that promised unpleasant things.

Makoto laughed it off and waved her hand. "So!" She began happily, "Naru-chan! Come to our place for dinner, I'll make you ramen!"

Naruto stared down at Makoto's excited expression dumbly for a few moments before speaking. "I have plans already," he admitted. "Can I get a rain check on the invitation?" he asked feably.

Makoto stared at Naruto in numb disbelief. "B..But ramen? What…no, who do you have plans with??" she demanded to know, stepping forwards to Naruto and folding her arms across her chest.

"The Hyuuga," Naruto answered, offering Makoto an apologetic smile. "I met Hinata and Hanabi when I went to turn in the mission and was invited."

"Can you come over before or after?" Makoto pressed on. "Mother hasn't seen you in weeks! She misses you," she paused and frowned again before puffing out her cheeks in a cute fashion. "I don't like that woman, she's up to no good."

Naruto stared at Makoto for a moment before bursting out into laughter. Makoto glared at Naruto and pounced on him, hitting him lightly on the chest. "It's not funny!"

As Naruto's laughter subsided Makoto's light hearted thumps stopped.

"Hinata isn't a bad person," Naruto assured Makoto, placing his hand on her head and tussling her hair lightly. "And Hanabi, her sister invited me to dinner, not her," he went on to say, before giving one of Makoto's short twintails a light pull, earning himself a swatt on the arm.

"I don't trust her," Makoto mumbled under her breath as she turned her gaze down.

"Hey."

A gentle nudge on the chin brought Makoto's eyes back up to Naruto's. Crystal blue eyes twinkled in a soft amusement. "Chin up," Naruto ordered playfully. "I'll always be your sensei, no matter what."

Makoto smiled weakly and nodded before wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck and giving him a hug. "I know," she murmured, "But I still don't like her."

Naruto's smile dulled ever so slightly out of Makoto's view. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her and gave the young Uchiha a gentle squeeze.

* * *

Neither Hanabi nor Hinata had given Naruto a definitive time to arrive. Hanabi had said 'for dinner' but dinner could have been from late in the afternoon until late in the evening. In the end, Naruto decided to play it safe and arrived just before six in the evening.

The rebuilt Hyuuga clan grounds were almost a complete replica of what they had been before Pain's attack on Konoha had obliterated the infrastructure. Whether it was a decision made to make a statement or because they couldn't have been bothered to come up with a new design, Naruto didn't know.

As it was within minutes of setting foot inside the clan grounds Naruto was quickly met and greeted by Hinata, who was still wearing the same outfit she had donned at the Hokage tower minus her _hitai-ate_. Naruto smiled at Hinata and waved at the white-eyed kunoichi.

Hinata returned the smile as she approached Naruto. "Good evening, Naruto-kun," Hinata said quietly. She gave Naruto an apologetic look. "We forgot to give you the time for dinner, I'm sorry."

Naruto laughed and waved the apollogy off. "No need to apologise, it was Hanabi's fault after all."

Hinata bit her bottom lip. "All the same..." She trailed off before gifting Naruto with a whimsical smile. "Dinner is going to be served in half an hour, you came at a good time." She gestured behind her. "Please follow me, Naruto-kun." she murmured.

Naruto gave off a laugh and slung an arm over Hianta's shoulders, pulling her closer to him as he began to walk in the dirction she had motioned towards, forcing Hinata to walk along with him. The blush that Hinata gave off had not gone unnoticed by Naruto. "Don't be so formal, Hinata-chan!" Naruto chided her lightly, and as she opened her mouth he brought a digit to her lips. "And don't apologise!" he insisted.

Hinata's cheeks darkened again and she nodded.

Naruto nodded in approval and dropped his finger from her lips.

"I'm sorry."

Naruto stopped walking and stared at Hinata's face in mild surprise before it clicked in his mind.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "That was good!" he praised.

Hinata giggled softly and as they approched the front door of one of the larger buildings situated on the Hyuuga's grounds she with the utmost care removed Naruto's arm from her shoulders. Naruto didn't protest the action and dropped his arm to his side. Hinata stepped forwards and opened the door for Naruto.

Naruto blinked, before wondering alloud. "Isn't the guy supposed to do that?"

All the same Naruto entered the house.

The room was pretty plain as far as decorations went. A few scrolls laid bare on the walls. They were the attempt of the Elder Hyuuga to recreate some of the works of art and history that had once been a point of internal pride to them. As far as copies went they were quite good. Naruto couldn't really tell the difference between the newer creations and the rare few that had been salvagable from the ruins.

But apparently they could.

Probably because of the Bykakugan.

Or something like that.

In the middle of the room a modest square table sat. Rather small and not what Naruto had expected at all. Though it looked to be high quality, the varnish really brought out the growth patterns of the wood. Eventually Naruto's eyes pasted the table itself and were met with a cool familiar gaze.

Naruto stared mutely for a moment before his mind was able to seperate the figure before him from the room itself.

Hanabi sat on the opposite side of the table, motionless and demurely, every bit the noble head of the Hyuuga clan she was. Hiashi had done a good job of raising at least one of his daughter's, Naruto had to admit as his eyes traced the contors of Hanabi's neck. Hanabi wore an elegant white tinted kimono with faint lillies of gold. It was held together by a lavendar sash around her waist.

A faint smile, almost a smirk appeared on Hanabi's lips and Naruto snapped his eyes away from the path of descent they were on and made contact with the Lavender's of Hanabi's eyes. He smiled widely at the younger woman in front of him and lifted a hand.

"Good evening Hanabi-cha….sama!" Naruto corrected himself.

Hanabi inclined her head and gestured to the seat opposite her. "Please, take a seat, Uzumaki-san."

Behind him Naruto heard Hinata close the door with a faint click. Naruto walked forwards towards the table and sat down in front of the Hyuuga clan head. A moment later to his right Hinata took a seat. Contrary to what Hinata had said only minutes prior, the moment that both he and Hinata had taken their seats a door to the back of the room opened and a series of Hyuuga entered, each holding a single dish in their hands.

In a minor flurry of activity plates were set on the table. In front of himself Naruto found a bowl of white rice and a side dish of steamed vegetables. In front of both of the Hyuuga sisters sat the same thing, Naruto noted quite quickly that his portion was slightly bigger than both of the girls. It was a nice gesture; on whose part, Hinata or Hanabi's, Naruto didn't know, but it was nice all the same.

Naruto gave an appreciative smile to the departing Hyuuga and reached for the chopsticks that had been set down along with the plate. A sharp look from the hostess stilled Naruto's hand, and a moment later Hanabi picked her chopsticks up from the table and began to eat. The moment that the steamed vegetable- carot, touched her lips Hinata mimicked the action and Naruto soon followed after.

Dinner with the Hyuuga turned out to be a quiet affair, after a few small almost mistakes, which were stopped by little more than a sharp look the meal went smoothly. Naruto had to admit that he enjoyed the meal. While he would never say it out loud, and if pressed would flat out deny it until his last breath, he had enjoyed the meal as much as Ichiraku's ramen.

Throughout the entire experience Naruto remained quiet, though at one point he had almost initiated conversation he had thought better of it, it almost felt like it would be rude to. As the last course came and went Naruto set his chopsticks down on top of his plate before quietly speaking. "Thank you for the meal."

Hanabi inclined her head and not a moment later the back door opened again, and in came three of the people who had served the meal. They quickly collected the dishes from the table and replaced them with three small cups and a single bottle of what Naruto assumed to be sake. The bottle was quickly picked up again and small amounts of the liquid was poured into each of the cups that sat on the table.

"Thank you," Naruto said out of habit as the Hyuuga poured the sake into the cup in front of him. He received a kind smile in return.

Naruto didn't wait for Hanabi to take the first action this time, without hesitation he brought the cup up to his lips and in a single motion poured the fermented rice wine into his mouth. The liquid burned it's way down his throat and settled in his stomach with a pleasant burn. A pleased sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he set the cup back down on the table and met Hanabi's gaze. A cool disapproving look met Naruto. No words were exchanged and hanabi took a light sip of her own cup.

"When do you intend to take over the role of Hokage?" Hanabi asked suddenly, and by her standards, bluntly.

Naruto blinked in mild surprise, it took him a few moments to calculate a response. "When Oba-schan is ready to retire," he answered easily, before asking a question of his own. "What brought that on?"

A light shrug was all the answer Hanabi gave before taking another small sip.

"You may drink more," Hanabi said after a moment of silence.

Naruto nodded and reached for the bottle, at the same time he turned his attenttion to Hinata. "How was your day, Hinata-chan?" he asked pleasantly as he poured some of the sake into his empty cup.

"It was good," Hinata answered quietly, as she craddled the cup of sake in her hands, she had yet to take a drink from it.

Naruto nodded acceptingly, before sparring Hanabi a glance. "And yours, Hanabi-chan?"

"It was a productive day," Hanabi said after a moment of consideration. She smiled ever so slightly as she brought her cup up to her lips and took a third sip. She glanced down into the cup after a moment before extending it towards Naruto.

The gesture pretty much said it all cosndiering that Naruto still held the sake bottle in his hand. With a small measure of care Naruto poured the sake into Hanabi's cup, before, as the level neared an invisible marker on the inside of the cup, he stopped and set the sake bottle down on the table.

Hanabi brought her cup closer to her and took a small sip before setting it down on the table in front of her. "Was your day productive, Naruto?"

It took Naruto a moment to answer. "It was, in a way," he admitted, "I've finally got Makoto-chan to want to do C rank missions." A disgruntled look over came his face. "I remember when I was a Genin I couldn't wait for a C rank." Naruto chuckled lightly. "I think I spoiled her, she expected to be on B rank missions by now."

At Hanabi's questioning look Naruto explained further. "Since I wouldn't, well couldn't get B rank missions she decided to be mutinous and request only D rank missions." A raised eyebrow followed. "...I let her choose what missions we take."

Hinata smiled ever so slightly at Naruto's right at the flat look that Hanabi gifted Naruto with.

"What?" Naruto protested. "It worked in the begining," he insisted.

A soft laugh passed from Hanabi's lips and a warm smile finally appeared.

"That's very considerate of you."

"Well, I _am_ her godfather," Naruto said honestly. "I don't want her to hate me, you know?"

"She's lucky to have you," Hinata said quietly.

Naruto smiled.


End file.
